Cavs Take A Firm Stance On Darius Garland Trade Rumors

For years, the Cleveland Cavaliers have expected Darius Garland to take his game to the next level.

He’s alternated good seasons with not-so-good ones, but the potential is there.

Unfortunately, so are the injuries.

Garland has struggled to stay on the court, and he just went under the knife to address yet another injury.

Even so, despite his recent surgery and history of postseason shortcomings, the Cavs refuse to give up on him or lower their potential asking price for his services.

According to a report by Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com, the Cavs have no intention to trade him right now, and they would only consider doing so once he’s back to full strength:

“The Cavs are still receiving trade calls about [Darius] Garland. There’s a sense teams are trying to see if the Cavs would have a lower price for their two-time All Star point guard due to his surgery. The Cavs’ stance is, ‘Why do that? Let’s see how he looks after the surgery.’ The Cavs believe the loss to Indiana in the playoffs showed the need for Garland to handle the pressing defense. Garland played in some of the games, but was hurting and couldn’t move well,” Pluto wrote.

It makes sense that the Cavs don’t want to give him up at a discount, especially considering that they need every bit of value they could get in return for his services.

Then again, if the right opportunity comes up, they need to take it.

Garland is a very good player, but the team has grown used to winning without him.

That’s not to say they’re a better team when he doesn’t play, but they might use his roster spot and big-money contract more effectively with other pieces.

Garland has been in the league for years now, and he has yet to break out as the 25-point, 10-assist kind of player he was projected to be, and he might be closer to being a finished product at this point in his career.