Two NBA teams — the The New Orleans Pelicans And San Antonio Spurs — would have tried to acquire The Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland via trade this offseason.
“THE The New Orleans Pelicans And San Antonio Spurs tried to trade for The Cleveland Cavaliers Guard Darius Garland this offseason, NBA source Ashish Mathur tells Hoops Wire wrote.
“The Cavaliers have told the Pelicans and Spurs they will not trade Garland,” the source said.
The Mathur rumor appears to confirm a report from Yahoo! Sports’ Jake Fischer in July that the Cavaliers had rejected any commercial interest in Garland up to this point.
“Spurs will be a team to watch [Andrew] “Nembhard is moving forward, sources said, after San Antonio expressed interest in a trade for Nembhard this offseason,” Fischer wrote. “Before San Antonio brought in Chris Paul to build the Spurs’ offense around Victor Wembanyama, sources said San Antonio reached out to several teams around the league that were exploring veteran guards who have yet to reach their prime. Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland was another talented player the Spurs reached out to, sources said, though Cleveland has rebuffed any trade interest in Garland to date.”
Garland’s future with the Cavaliers appeared uncertain earlier in the offseason, coming off a disappointing performance with Cleveland during its run to the 2024 NBA playoffs. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said last month that he believed Garland seriously considered requesting a trade out of Cleveland.
“I think there was a point where Darius was seriously considering whether or not he should try to move things forward through a trade,” Windhorst said. “And all of that is — again — buried in nuance. Did he ever ask for a trade? To my knowledge, no. Was there any indication that he might ask for a trade? Yes.
“So he can look you in the eye and say, ‘I love Cleveland. I want to be a Cavalier. I love Donovan Mitchell. I never asked to be traded. Let’s go, Cavs, woo, woo, woo.’ And that has to be true. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t on the table.”
The 24-year-old saw his offensive productivity drop significantly in the 2024 NBA playoffs compared to the 2023-24 regular season. He saw his scoring average drop from 18.0 points per game to 15.7, and he shot 42.7 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from three-point range in the playoffs compared to 44.6 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three-point range in the regular season.
But despite Garland’s lackluster play in the playoffs, he remains one of the best point guards in the NBA today, and the Spurs stand out as a team that could benefit greatly from acquiring him.
For starters, the Spurs don’t have many capable playmakers on their roster outside of Chris Paul, who is one of the best facilitators in league history. But even if Paul is that good from a passing standpoint, he’s 39 years old. Garland stands out as someone who would fit better into the timeline than star Victor Wembanyama, who is just 20.
Garland doesn’t exactly seem like the ideal fit for the Pelicans like he is for the Spurs. The Pelicans already have a pretty solid backline after the team acquired Dejounte Murray to pair with CJ McCollum.
