According to cleaningtheglass.com, Garland ranks 9th among point guards (out of 31 who have played at least 600 minutes) in on/off. He's ahead of Morant, SGA, Fox, VanVleet, Smart, Paul, Lowry, and Russell, among others. That puts him in the 81st percentile.
Obviously on/off is not the final word in evaluating performance, but the point is that Garland makes the Cavs better when he's on the floor, more so than four out of five point guards who average 10+ minutes per game.
Of the eight point guards who rank higher in on/off, five of them are much older; Jrue Holiday (32), Stephan Curry (34), Alex Caruso (28), James Harden (33), and Damian Lillard (32).
Trae Young (24) and Luka Doncic (23) are the only point guards ranked above him that are about his age (currently 22). Jose Alvarado of New Orleans, who is not a starter but has played 1,200 minutes, is 8th. He's 24. Ja Morant and SGA, age 23 and 24, are right behind him.
In a couple of years as 30-somethings Curry, Lillard, Holiday, and Harden fade from the ranks of the elite I think Garland will be recognized as one of the top five point guards in the NBA along with Doncic, Young, Morant, SGA, and possibly Fox.
