Darius Garland Giving Clippers Fans Hope Amid Injuries

The Los Angeles Clippers are in the middle of a playoff race in the stacked Western Conference. The Clippers have done an admirable job turning their season around after a brutal 6-21 start, but they are still not out of the woods. Sitting at 35-36 with three weeks left before the regular season, the Clippers have work to do to clinch a playoff spot.

Unfortunately, they are facing injuries to key players. Kawhi Leonard is playing through an ankle sprain and Bennedict Mathurin will miss his fourth straight game. Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Bradley Beal have already been ruled out for the season. The short-handed Clippers had lost four straight games before beating the Mavericks in overtime on Sunday.

This is certainly not the best stretch of the season for the Clippers. One has to wonder whether they might be running out of gas at the worst possible time. The only thing giving Clippers fans some hope in this stretch is Darius Garland's performance.

Darius Garland Makes Clippers' Future Significantly Brighter

After being acquired by the Clippers at the trade deadline, Garland didn't play in the first ten games with his new team. He made his Clippers debut on March 2nd and has been trending in the right direction ever since. On Saturday, he just had his best game of the season, teasing what might be coming from him in the final stretch of the season.

Against the Mavs, Garland played over 38 minutes for only the second time this season. Shooting 15/24 from the field and 8/12 from three, Garland put up 41 points and 11 assists and led the Clippers to victory. This increased his averages as a Clipper to 21.4 points and 7 assists on 49.0/49.3/84.2 shooting splits.

Garland's three-point shooting may be unsustainable, but his impact on the team's offense is undeniable. His ability to create his own shot and make jumpers off the dribble opens up the rest of the Clippers' offense. He is the best pick-and-roll player on the team and can find open shooters as well as the roll man. His combination of scoring, shooting, and playmaking is unmatched on this team.

As a result, the Clippers have a +13.0 net rating with Garland on the court. That is an impressive +11.3 on/off swing for Garland. Most of this impact comes on the offensive side of the ball. When the 26-year-old point is out there, the Clippers have an incredible 126.3 offensive rating, per Cleaning the Glass, which would be first in the league by a mile.

Leonard is obviously the main engine for the Clippers, but Garland raises the team's ceiling to another level. If LA is going to make any noise this season, the star point guard has to keep up this level of production.

Even if this season ends in an early exit, the Clippers' future is much brighter after turning James Harden into Garland. This helps extend LA's window of being a relevant and competitive team in the Western Conference. That is a much better place to be than where the Clippers were before the trade deadline.