Darius Garland Hosts Call of Duty Competition for Clippers Teammates & Wants to Be Franchise Player

Darius Garland is ready to be the face of the Los Angeles Clippers as the franchise pivots away from the Kawhi Leonard era and faces life following the NBA's sanctions.

"I thought about it a little over the summertime," he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. "It's definitely something I want. I've been through a lot in this career and I'm ready to take on the reins of that, especially in Year 8. I've actually found myself a little bit and I know where I want to get to. And that's a part of my plan, where I want to get better so I can get where I want to be. So, definitely, I'm ready for the opportunity."

That means taking on new leadership responsibilities. As Spears noted, Garland hosted a Call of Duty tournament for his teammates, went to a USC football game with teammate Kobe Sanders and a Los Angeles Rams game with rookie Keaton Wagler and spent much of the offseason working out and rehabbing at the team's practice facility.

"I'm definitely comfortable using my voice," Garland noted. "I just got to get used to using it all the time. I had a lot of good players that I had with me [in Cleveland] like [Donovan Mitchell]. But now I'm the head of the snake with the ball in my hands 99 percent of the time. So, I definitely got to dig down deep and actually get it out sometimes. That's the thing I'm working on right now."