Cleveland Cavaliers Trade Darius Garland To Lakers In Wild Proposal

Could the Los Angeles Lakers ultimately pry Darius Garland away from the Cleveland Cavaliers?

Nov 25, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) passes as Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) defends during the first half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland has been the subject of incessant trade speculation ever since the Cavaliers were eliminated from the playoffs in May.

Due to the fact that many felt the pairing between Garland and Donovan Mitchell simply wasn't working, Garland seemed like the odd man out.

Of course, nothing has occurred along that front, and the Cavaliers apparently rebuffed a Garland trade offer from the San Antonio Spurs.

But could Cleveland have a change of heart and decide to move Garland?

Max Dible of Heavy.com still thinks the Los Angeles Lakers could represent a potential destination for Garland, suggesting that the Lakers trade D'Angelo Russell and a couple of unprotected first-round draft picks (2029, 2031) to the Cavs in a package for Garland.

There are a couple of issues with this trade offer, though.

First and foremost, Garland and Russell are pretty comparable offensive talents. Garland is probably the better pure scorer and Russell is the superior playmaker and shooter, but overall, they are very similar in terms of what they bring to the table.

It just wouldn't make much sense for the Cavaliers to swap Garland for another smallish guard, one who isn't very good defensively and has bounced around the NBA quite a bit. The whole idea of moving Garland would be to further open things up for Mitchell, so acquiring another shoot-first point guard would be very counterintuitive.

To be fair, Dible does specify that Russell's expiring deal would be the bigger draw, but still, Cleveland wouldn't just acquire Russell to have him sit on the bench.

Additionally, the Cavaliers are trying to contend right now. While unprotected first-round picks are always nice, it seems hard to imagine Cleveland is going to care too much about draft picks five and seven years into the future at this juncture.

If the Cavs do ultimately decide to trade Garland (and they probably won't anytime soon), they would likely require a floor-spacing big man or a long three-and-D wing in return. They wouldn't merely swap him for a relatively analogous player, and outside of maybe Rui Hachimura (who isn't exactly great defensively), the Lakers really don't have much to offer along that front.