Cavaliers Trade Darius Garland, Land Austin Reaves In Wild Proposal

It's that time of year for blockbuster trade proposals regardless of whether or not they stand any realistic chance of happening.

Apr 2, 2024; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) reacts to a play against the Utah Jazz during the fourth quarter at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

Imagine a world in which the Cleveland Cavaliers are able to trade Darius Garland and land Austin Reaves as well as multiple other key pieces in return.

Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz has proposed a three-team deal between the Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets that involves Cleveland sending out Garland and Caris LeVert and receiving Reaves, Cam Johnson and Rui Hachimura.

The Cavs are rumored to be interested in Johnson, so a trade with the Nets certainly makes sense in the grand scheme of things. And you know what? A legitimate argument can be made that all parties encompassed in this deal would come away happy.

Of course, that doesn't mean this trade stands any chance of actually occurring.

But will the Cavaliers attempt to rehome Garland?

Earlier in the offseason, we heard that Cleveland did not have any plans of moving Garland, but now, we are finding out that it may not be for a lack of want and more for a lack of genuine interest from around the NBA.

There have been multiple reports that have stated it isn't a great time for the Cavs to trade Garland, as his value is not exactly that high at the moment.

Given the season that Garland just had, that does not come as much of a surprise.

The 24-year-old averaged 18 points, 6.5 assists and 1.3 steals over 33.4 minutes per game on very ordinary 44.6/37.1/83.4 shooting splits this year, logging a meager .067 win shares per 48 minutes.

Worse, Garland was miserable in the playoffs, registering 15.7 points and 5.8 assists a night while posting an ugly true-shooting percentage of 52.2 percent.

Now, if the Cavaliers are able to extract this sort of value out of Garland in a trade, where they can get bigger and a bit more versatile, they may consider pulling the trigger. Remember: they just extended Donovan Mitchell, so now, the idea is to put the most appropriate pieces around their star.

It remains to be seen if Garland ends up representing a good long-term fit. Thus far, the Mitchell-Garland pairing has certainly been a bit shaky, particularly this past season.

We'll see what becomes of Garland as the summer progresses.