Darius Garland ‘probable’ to start in Wednesday’s season opener

The Darius Garland era is going to start on opening night.

At Tuesday’s practice, Cavs head coach John Beilein said that it was “probable” that Garland would be in the team’s starting lineup on opening night.

“I think it’s probable,” Beilein said of Garland starting, per 92.3 The Fan. “[Matthew Dellavedova]’s so valuable in so many ways. If we have a rookie in that first five and a rookie in that second five, it’s really good to have Delly in there with Kevin [Porter].”

This is a really interesting place for the Cavs to start their season. The Garland-Collin Sexton duo is likely one of the team’s top-three most important building blocks this season and beyond. Going to it from day one is as good of place as any to evaluate it. Defensively, it’s likely going to struggle. But if it’s good on offense, that will be a good starting point.

Along with Garland and Sexton, the Cavs are expected to start Cedi Osman, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson.

Pairing Dellavedova with Porter also makes some sense. Porter is raw, but supremely talented. Dellavedova can help ease his transition to the NBA and help guide him as the game goes on.

All of this could change, and probably will, as the season goes on. But this is an interesting starting point.