Darius Garland is set to make a comeback with the Cavaliers this season

Darius Garland is coming off the toughest season of his NBA career with the Cleveland Cavaliers. His performance on the court was determined by a variety of factors, but DG averaged 18.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 6.5 assists while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from behind the three-point line.

However, despite this down year, Garland is in a great position and is ready to bounce back next season, and here's why:

We can't talk about Garland's 2023-24 season without mentioning all the injuries he sustained throughout the year. DG missed time due to a back, ankle, neck, and most importantly, a jaw injury.

The broken jaw Garland suffered when he drove into the lane and collided with Kristaps Porzingis. Because of that injury, he missed nearly two months of the season and never looked the same when he returned to the field.

Before his jaw injury, DG averaged 20.7 points per game and made 47 percent of his shots from the field and 35 percent of his shots from behind the three-point line. Garland averaged just 16.6 points and made 43 percent of his shots from the field afterward.

It's clear that this injury affected him and he was never able to fully recover from it during the season. Perhaps that was partly because in the six weeks he missed, Garland lost 12 pounds and could only eat through a straw.

Whether you are a professional athlete or not, this can affect anyone's fitness and physical performance.

Garland has already proven he is a top talent in the NBA, but looking at Cleveland's offensive system in the past, we may have only seen the tip of that potential.

JB Bickerstaff is a defensive-minded coach, and his weaknesses on the other side of the ball became more and more apparent over the course of his time in Cleveland. Now the Cavaliers have an offensive-minded head coach at the helm in Kenny Atkinson.

Most importantly, Atkinson has a history of working with guards and getting the most out of them, which could help take DG's game to the next level next season.

The best example of that influence is how Atkinson helped D'Angelo Russell have the best two seasons of his career as a member of the Brooklyn Nets. With Atkinson as head coach from 2017 to 2019, Russell averaged 19.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists while shooting 35 percent from the three-point line and 42 percent from the field.

But that success story goes back to 2016, when Atkinson was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks. Both Jeff Teague and Kent Bazemore praised Atkinson for transforming Atlanta's offense in a season that saw the Hawks finish fourth in the Eastern Conference and first the season before.

We'll have to wait and see exactly how Garland is used on offense, as history tells us he could be in for one of his best offensive seasons yet.