Every rookie has a welcome to the NBA story, some event or exchange where they realize that they are in the NBA now. Recently, Darius Garland shared his welcome to the NBA story on the Old Man & the Three podcast. It features all the spice you expect, there’s a hotshot rookie who’s overconfident, an unassuming rival, and a rude realization.
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Garland spoke about how he ‘literally got cooked’ by Phoenix Suns star Elfrid Payton in a game, and how he realized that in the league, anybody could school you. It was his rookie year and he had gone into the match expecting it to go smoothly.
However, everything would go sideways as then-Knicks star Payton fired up. Garland would describe it as being a night where he was ‘little bro-ed’ by someone he thought was just a regular player.
The Pride Before the Fall
It’s easy to understand why a rookie might be overconfident. By the time you reach the NBA, you’ve proven yourself so many times. You probably were the best player in your neighborhood, then your school, and probably your college.
You almost forget that every single player in the NBA is absurdly talented. Even a regular guy on an NBA team plays a level of basketball that is astonishing. To put it more plainly, in the NBA, anyone can cook you.
Garland fits the talented rookie bill perfectly. He played college basketball at Vanderbilt, where he was the best recruit in program history. Soon though, the NBA would cut him down to size.
Read more: “Darius Garland really accomplished a Cavs feat that even LeBron James didn’t achieve”: The All-Star becomes the 2nd youngest player in franchise history with a 25/5/5 game on 80% shooting
Garland’s Introduction to the NBA
It would happen when the Cavaliers were playing the Knicks and Elfrid Payton, a ‘regular guy in the league’ proceeded to cook the rookie.
Garland said that ‘he was putting his shoulder in my chest, I can’t breathe for a lil bit, he was literally just little bro-ing me everywhere on the floor’. Ouch.
While the Cavaliers star’s rookie season was forgettable, he is no run-of-the-mill player. The 2022 NBA All-Star is exceptional and even he got cooked by someone who’s just another player. Elfrid Payton is no NBA superstar, to be honest. But that night he gave the rookie a valuable lesson.
