Analyst Divulges Massive Growing Concern for Cavaliers Star

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not been playing their best basketball lately, and that's pretty poor timing considering the NBA playoffs are right around the corner.

The Cavaliers are 4-5 over their last nine games, and while it could be attributed to a late-season malaise, let's keep in mind the fact that an inexperienced team like Cleveland really shouldn't be coasting.

Deeper issues could be at play here, and Josh Cornelissen of King James Gospel has identified one potential culprit: the struggles of All-Star guard Darius Garland.

Garland has been in a bit of a shooting slump over his last 20 games, and Cornelissen outlined how concerning the slump is in a recent piece.

"In his first 50 games, Garland averaged 21.9 points per game while shooting 55 percent from 2-point range and 43.4 percent from distance. In his last 20 games? Those numbers swoon, falling to just 17.6 points per game and a frigid 45.8 percent from 2 and 32.9 percent from three. Overall, his true-shooting percentage is down 12 percent over his last 20 games," Cornelissen wrote.

This is definitely significant for the Cavs, as they tend to go as far as the duo of Donovan Mitchell and Garland takes them. At least from an offensive standpoint.

Garland is averaging 20.6 points per game on 47.1/40.3/88.4 shooting splits on the season overall, which is impressive. But as Cornelissen notes, those numbers have dipped as the campaign has progressed.

Cornelissen went as far to say that the Cavaliers may have to start giving some of Garland's minutes to Ty Jerome if he doesn't break out of his prolonged slump, and since the All-Star break, Garland is making just 39.3 percent of his field-goal attempts.

That obviously isn't good, and it's something that the 25-year-old must rectify if Cleveland wants to have any chance of making an NBA Finals run this spring.

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