The Cleveland Cavaliers are tied for the best record in basketball and have been hitting on all cylinders for the vast majority of the 2024-25 NBA campaign to date.

A big part of that has been Darius Garland, who is enjoying the best year of his career thus far.

Garland is averaging 21 points and 6.8 assists over 30.1 minutes per game on 50.2/42.1/90.2 shooting splits, good for a blistering true-shooting percentage of 63.6 percent.

The scary part is that the 24-year-old may just be getting started.

Garland had a rough season last year, so he has on a bit of a revenge tour now, and he put the NBA on notice while speaking to reporters this week while also sending a message to his doubters.

“I think I’ve quieted a couple of them,” Garland said of silencing his critics, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “Still people on my hit list that I need to go at. I’m going to continue to do that. I know exactly five. Halfway through the season, so we’re almost there. Just gotta keep playing with that confidence.”

Trade speculation swirled around Garland last summer after a rather horrific showing in the playoffs. Many wondered if he could co-exist with Donovan Mitchell, and there appeared to be a legitimate chance that the Cavaliers would break up the duo.

“It lights a fire up your butt,” Garland said. “When you see all the doubt and all the haters and 99 percent of the people don’t even know what you’re going through, it takes a toll on you. This summer, I kept everything. I used to go back and look at all the people talking negative about me and negative about the team. It lit a fire under my butt for sure.”

It seems the Cleveland obviously made the right choice in retaining Garland, who has been a phenomenal secondary option to Mitchell this season.