Cavaliers have painfully obvious answer to question looming over Cleveland

Though the season’s still relatively young, no one expected the Cleveland Cavaliers to be barely hovering above .500 at this point. Yes, the Cavs have been dealing with constant injuries, but beyond that, something’s off in Cleveland.

Naturally, fans and analysts keep returning to the never-ending question that’s always surrounded this Cavs group: are Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland a championship backcourt, or is there too much redundancy there?

Brainstorming Garland trade ideas has been a popular activity for a while. It’s not a new train of thought to suggest that Darius — and the Cavs — would be better off if he were wearing a different uniform, although some disagree. Former NBA point guard Jeff Teague, for one, believes the Cavs shouldn’t trade anyone, Garland included.

Bill Simmons and Rob Mahoney reminded us that choosing between Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell isn’t much of a choice at all

It goes without saying that if the Cavs decided to break up their backcourt, trading Garland and keeping Mitchell would be the move. How this ever became a subject of any debate is kind of ridiculous.

Garland would have plenty of suitors if Cleveland made him available. The Sacramento Kings have been connected to him in recent buzz.

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Rob Mahoney recently talked about the Garland trade situation during an episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. After Mahoney reminded Simmons that trading Mitchell is completely out of the question, Simmons zeroed in on an interesting fit for Garland: the Brooklyn Nets.

Garland’s $39.4 million cap hit makes a three-team deal more likely, but Cleveland and Brooklyn could ostensibly pull off a trade without anyone else. To make the money work, the Nets could package Terance Mann ($15.5 million cap hit) with two of the following three guys: Zaire Williams, Cam Thomas, and Haywood Highsmith (Thomas and Highsmith are expiring).

If you’re thinking that this isn’t much talent going back to the Cavs for Garland, you’re right.

The thing is, we're assuming that Brooklyn wouldn’t be willing to part with any of these guys in a Garland deal: Nicolas Claxton, Egor Demin, Day’Ron Sharpe. Giving up Michael Porter Jr. wouldn’t make sense, either, and that wouldn’t help Cleveland’s cap situation.

Simmons mentioned Brooklyn’s draft capital for a reason — it would be the main attraction in a Garland trade. But should Cleveland actually consider going into business with the Nets on a Garland trade like this? If the Cavs have a terrible January, it could become a more savory possibility.