After missing the final two games of the Miami Heat series and the first two games of the Indiana Pacers series, Darius Garland finally returned to the Cavs’ lineup. Amid much fanfare, might we add? However, things are not going according to plan for the 25-year-old guard in Game 3 against the Pacers. And even before we learned some troubling news about Garland, but first things first.

Tony East, who covers Infiana’s pro basketball teams for various outlets like Nexthoops and ForbesSports, confirmed a worrying visual during Game 3. During the second half of the game, Darius Garland went down, seemingly injured, as the Cavs called a timeout. But even as the play resumed, Darius wasn’t able to get back up. And the Pacers capitalized by making a 3-pointer.

Moreover, Chris Fedor, reporter for Cleveland.com. confirmed that Darius looked to be in discomfort during the timeout as the Cavs’ training staff checked him out. But injuries weren’t even the most worrying part of Garland’s performance tonight. No, there was another equally, if not more concerning, aspect of his play tonight.

Darius Garland had 4 personal fouls in 12 minutes by the second quarter tonight. Yes, two more and he fouls out! Now, this may not have been that concerning on its own. But, unlike Donovan Mirchell, who also has 4 fouls but 42 points as things stand, Darius Garland has only managed to score 10.

Now, the Pacers still trail the Cavs by quite a significant margin. However, Garland’s struggles might be indicative of something deeper at play in Cleveland. And ESPN insider Brian Windhorst hinted at this ahead of Game of this series.

Brian Windhorst reveals that Darius Garland has a serious injury

Windy recently appeared on ESPN’s “5 Good Minutes With Windy” show ahead of Game 3 between the Cavs and the Pacers. And on the show, he shared quite a disappointing update regarding Darius Garland’s injury.

“Darius Garland is truly hurt. Darius Garland had this injury at the end of the regular season. They gave him a couple of days off, they brought him back for the playoffs and he played, because what you’re supposed to do is play in the playoffs, and then he was re-injured. They didn’t hold him out because they were super conservative with the injury. He played, and he was re-injured, and the injury is worse,” said Windy.

This means, even though Garland played tonight, he’s still not at 100%. The Cavs being 2-0 down against the Pacers may be why the 25-year-old stepped up despite being compromised. And boy, did it show tonight. He went 3-11 from the field tonight and 2-7 from downtown. But what’s worse is that he committed 4 personal fouls and 4 turnovers tonight! That’s not going to fly as we get deeper and deeper into the postseason!

Clearly, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a Darius Garland problem. But they need to fix it now while they’ve still got a fighting chance against the Pacers. Otherwise the East’s top-seed this year may be in for a huge Playoffs disappointment!