THE The Cleveland Cavaliers have chosen to return with the same core group of players for the upcoming 2024-25 NBA season.
Darius Garland is back, despite the many trade rumors surrounding him heading into the offseason. Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are also back with new contract extensions under their belts.
Although the team has basically the same roster heading into the upcoming season, it’s not because no one was interested in making a big move with them.
According to a report by Ashish Mathur from WireTHE The New Orleans Pelicans And San Antonio Spurs both tried to acquire Garland from the Cavaliers.
“The New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs tried to trade for Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland this summer, an NBA source told Hoops Wire. The Cavaliers told the Pelicans and Spurs they would not trade Garland, the source said.”
Garland, who is just 24, still has plenty of room to grow in Cleveland. The team clearly believes he has great potential for the future and didn’t want to trade him too early before knowing exactly what he’s capable of.
During the 2023–24 NBA season with the Cavaliers, Garland finished with an average of 18.0 points, 6.5 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He shot 44.6% of his shots and connected on 37.1% of his three-point attempts.
Just looking at the numbers, Garland’s potential is huge. However, he still has a long way to go to become the dynamic teammate of Mitchell in the backcourt that the team hopes he will become.
That being said, Cleveland bet everything on Garland. Passing up opportunities to make other big trades in order to keep him was a very strong demonstration of their confidence in him.
It will be interesting to see how the 2024-25 season plays out for the Cavaliers and Garland. Hopefully, he takes a big step forward in his development and can be a big part of making Cleveland an even bigger contender in the Eastern Conference.
