The Cleveland Cavaliers have gotten off to a slow start this season and sit at 24-20 through 44 games. They have been significantly better lately after a slow start, as they are 7-4 in their last 11 games, and have been one of the NBA’s most potent offenses over the last month.
The orchestrator for their bounce back has been All-Star point guard Darius Garland. After offseason toe surgery cost him a few games to start the year, and caused him to struggle on the court, Garland has rediscovered his groove lately. Since December 22nd, he has averaged 19 points per game and seven assists on 53 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range.
Unfortunately, Garland sprained his toe and is out for the next 7-10 days, although it is not expected to be as serious as his previous toe injury. Prior to that, the question around the NBA was whether or not the Cavaliers would move on from Garland if the price was right.
That decision has been made for Cleveland already.
The Trae Young trade and lack of Ja Morant market makes Darius Garland trade less likely
When it came out that the Hawks were looking to move Young, the consensus was that he would not have a long list of suitors. This was proven true, as the Washington Wizards were the only team with registered interest in him.
The trade itself didn’t yield a huge return for the Atlanta Hawks. They only got back an expiring contract in C.J. McCollum, and a sharpshooter in Corey Kispert.
Now, the Grizzlies are trying to trade Ja Morant, but even his market has been relatively quiet. A few teams are interested, but they are not willing to give up significant assets to do so.
NBA teams are not lining up to trade for smaller guards anymore, no matter how good they are. Garland would not bring back meaningful assets to the Cavs, especially given his recent injury history. Yahoo Sports' Kelly Iko reported as much.
Iko wrote, "In conversations around the league, Garland’s market — much like the entire point guard market — is muted."
Even if that wasn’t the case, Cleveland values him very highly, and would want an All-Star level return for the point guard. That likely wouldn’t happen even if Garland was healthy.
The Cavs have never indicated they want to move Garland. He is the team’s longest tenured player and he is a huge part of the team’s offensive identity. Even if they did want to trade him, his value would not be high around the league given the current state of small guards in the NBA.