Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland has been ruled out of Friday’s game at Philadelphia due to right great toe soreness, tweets Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. As Fedor notes, Garland’s injury is not a recurrence of the toe ailment that required offseason surgery and has bothered him for several months — the injury on a different toe on the opposite foot.
Cleveland will also be without sharpshooter Sam Merrill on Friday, per Fedor (Twitter link). Merrill is dealing with a right hand sprain, the same injury that caused him to miss 14 games earlier in the season. Both players were injured in Wednesday’s win in Philadelphia.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- The Heat will be down two key rotation members for Saturday’s game against Oklahoma City, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter links). Starting point guard Davion Mitchell will miss his second straight game with a left shoulder contusion, while sixth man Jaime Jaquez Jr. will be out for the second consecutive contest due to a left knee sprain. As Chiang writes for The Miami Herald, Jaquez underwent an MRI on Thursday which revealed irritation in his knee. Mitchell had not received an MRI as of Thursday. Guard Tyler Herro is questionable for tomorrow’s game due to contusions on his toe and rib.
- Forward Bilal Coulibaly, who exited Wednesday’s loss at the Clippers early due to a back injury, will miss the final two games of the Wizards‘ west coast road trip with what the team is calling lower back stiffness, as Josh Robbins of The Athletic relays (via Twitter). Head coach Brian Keefe said the former lottery pick is back in D.C. to receive treatment for his back.
- Celtics guard Payton Pritchard is doubtful to suit up for Saturday’s game at Atlanta due to left ankle soreness, per John Karalis of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link). Pritchard, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, has appeared in all 40 of Boston’s games thus far in 2025/26. Forward Josh Minott will miss his seventh straight contest due to a left ankle sprain, Karalis adds.