Why the Cavaliers should not trade Darius Garland before the trade deadline

Here is why a mid-season Darius Garland trade would spell disaster for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Dec 6, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) celebrates after hitting a three point basket against the Golden State Warriors during the first half at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

On September 1st 2022, shortly after losing back to back games in heartbreaking fashion in the play-in, the Cleveland Cavaliers pushed their chips in and acquired Donovan Mitchell. This move cemented the Cavs as serious competitors in the East for years to come.

However, the ripple effect of the Donovan Mitchell acquisition was less time handling the ball for a young guard who had just made an all star team, Darius Garland. It also did not help that just a season later, once Garland and Mitchell had finally learned to co-exist, DG suffered a jaw injury as well as the loss of his grandmother.

In a turn of events, Darius Garland was thrust from a fan favorite to always in trade rumors in just a couple of seasons. A large amount of speculation has been whether or not Garland and Mitchell can find post-season success, given the two smaller/non-defensive guard tandem has not been historically successful in the NBA.

Portland

The first team that comes to mind in recent history that ran a somewhat successful small guard pairing is Portland, who ran Weber State alum Damian Lillard at point guard alongside Canton native C.J. McCollum at shooting guard.

When they finally decided to break the pair up after a decade of hoops together, they moved McCollum first and in midseason fashion. Somewhat similar to Garland's situation this season.

Portland traded CJ McCollum plus matching contracts and received Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tomas Satoransky, Didi Louzada, a protected first-round pick(which didn’t convey), and two second-round picks.

All in all, I think Cavs fans would be extremely disappointed in a haul of this caliber for Darius Garland, and would rather hold onto the all star point guard.

Sacramento

In the same February that Portland traded CJ, the Kings broke up Tyrese Haliburton from running mate De'Aaron Fox in a blockbuster deal that landed them Domantas Sabonis, matching contracts, and a second round pick.

This breakup led to the Kings snapping a historical playoff drought, but it was ultimately not the pairing Sacramento had dreamed of, as they moved on from Fox just a season ago. Haliburton conversely led the Pacers to the NBA finals for the first time since 2000, and while they fell short, Haliburton remains the face of the Pacers franchise.

This is eerily similar to Garland's situation in that recent reports suggest any Garland suitor plans to make him their primary option. Should the Cavaliers fail to heed the warning set by the Kings, Garland could very well breakout just like Haliburton did and become the face of a different franchise.

Reality

In both of these scenarios a trade deadline trade was not the smartest move, and hitting the mid-season panic button backfired on both organizations rather quickly.

While this could just be recency bias, as there have been similar scenarios that have panned out in the past, it is hard to ignore the red flags recently planted in the ground by teams currently in the draft lottery.

It seems like an overreaction to say that a Darius Garland trade could be the first domino to fall in a cascade that ends with the Cavaliers back in the draft lottery within five years; but here in Cleveland, it would be just another Tuesday.