More Evidence That The Cavaliers Won't Be Trading Darius Garland

In spite of all the rumors and speculation, the Cavaliers will likely be holding on to Darius Garland.

Apr 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) celebrates in the second quarter against the Orlando Magic during game two of the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports / David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

After the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated from the playoffs in May, there were rumblings that the team would look to split up the duo of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland.

Obviously, Mitchell is the better player, so the general consensus was that the Cavaliers might try to trade Garland if Mitchell signed an extension.

Well, Mitchell re-upped with the Cavs on a three-year, $150 million contract on Tuesday morning, which has refueled speculation that the Cavaliers could look to move Garland.

Some even surmised that Garland may ask for a trade if Mitchell stuck around for the long haul. It didn't help matters that Klutch Sports said that they would prefer Garland, their client, to be dealt in the event that Mitchell inked a new deal.

But not so fast.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst says that Cleveland does not seem interested in trading Garland, noting that the market is "terrible" for him. That falls in line with a separate report that surfaced on Monday.

"I don't think the market is there for Darius Garland... I think it's a terrible time to trade Darius Garland," - @WindhorstESPN.

Windy notes that he's not convinced Garland wants to or will even ask for a trade. pic.twitter.com/N9C3HPe2xV

— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) July 2, 2024

Windhorst adds that he does not think Garland will ask for a trade, and that even if he does, the Cavs will not move him.

Being that this is the second time in as many days that an insider has commented on how bare the trade market is as far as Garland is concerned, we should probably trust it.

Of course, things can change. We are still in the very early stages of the offseason. There are over three months to go before the start of the 2024-25 campaign, and a lot can occur during that span.

But there is no doubt that Garland's rather shaky season—and awful playoff showing—may have negatively affected his value to the point that it wouldn't make much sense for the Cavaliers to part ways with him.

The only way Cleveland should even consider trading Garland is if it clearly improves the roster in some way. Garland is a former All-Star, after all, and he is two seasons removed from averaging 21.6 points per game on decent efficiency. Jettisoning him for pennies on the dollar would be silly.

To be frank, the Cavs may ultimately have to trade one of Garland, Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley in order to truly construct a championship-caliber roster. The Cavaliers have started to fall behind, and with Mitchell's new contract featuring a player option for during the summer of 2027, they don't exactly have ample time to right the ship.

Personally, I like Cleveland's core quartet. But if the Cavs are unable to improve the roster in any other ways (and right now, it looks like they are kind of stuck), they may have no choice but to move some pieces around.

But if they do that, it must be worth their while. And at the moment, it doesn't appear that trading Garland falls under that worthwhile umbrella.