The Cleveland Cavaliers don't want to trade Darius Garland.
That's the baseline understanding that needs to be in place before discussing trade rumors and offseason plans. The Cavaliers organization loves Garland, he just had the best season of his career, and their offense was lethal this year in large part because of the brilliance of Garland playing with and without Donovan Mitchell.
The team also understands that being complacent is not a pathway to NBA success. The New York Knicks had a great team, continued to make trades that improved the starting lineup and are now in the Eastern Conference Finals. It's without question that the Cavaliers fell short of their goals this season, and while much of that failure was due to injury, it's impossible to say that this group of players is without a doubt a title team in waiting.
The Cavs can make small moves around the margins, trying to offload Isaac Okoro or bring back Sam Merrill and Ty Jerome. To make a big swing, however, their best trade piece is Garland. Yet all of the fake trades and rumors and ideas being bandied about miss the fact that the organization is starting from a baseline of not wanting to trade Garland. Any deal involving the point guard has to be a slam dunk for the front office to even consider it.
Over the coming days we will highlight a few different Darius Garland trades that might just hit that sweet spot, improving the team enough to pass into the realm of realism. We begin today with a player whose team also fell short of the Eastern Conference Finals and is considering even more drastic changes than the Cavaliers this summer.
Cavaliers would trade Garland for Jaylen Brown
The Boston Celtics stumbled just as hard as the Cavaliers this season, losing in the second round. In the process they also lost MVP candidate Jayson Tatum to a torn Achilles, an injury that will likely keep him out for all of next season. The 2025-26 Celtics are not contending for a title.
One pathway ahead of them may be to trade away their key players in a move to get much younger and less expensive in order to reset around Tatum for the 2026-27 season and beyond. With Jaylen Brown now 28 years old and on a massive contract, the Celtics could be open to moving on from their longtime star.
Darius Garland is more than three years younger than Brown and on a less expensive contract. He would give the Celtics a fresh look on offense, but he is still a knockdown shooter who would fit their system well. They would be pivoting away from their size-and-length approach on defense, but in the process injecting life into their offensive attack.
For the Cavaliers, Jaylen Brown is the exact sort of player they have been searching for ever since LeBron James took his talents to Malibu Beach. He is a two-way wing with legitimate size, allowing him to defend all manner of wings and forwards and also take advantage against smaller players on offense. He can score, shoot and is a decent playmaker. He also has a Finals MVP to his name, a flashing beacon to his ability to elevate his game in the playoffs.
Brown does make more than Garland, so any trade would need to significantly offload salary for the Cavaliers as well. Perhaps a deal where they offload De'Andre Hunter to a third team like the Brooklyn Nets for a pick that routes to the Celtics, or even a four-team stair-step deal where multiple other players are changing teams to make the salaries work.
To evaluate Darius Garland trades, you need to start on the players who would significantly change and improve the Cleveland Cavaliers. Adding Jaylen Brown should do just that.