Cavs’ dream 2026 NBA trade deadline scenario that fuels late-season surge

The Cleveland Cavaliers pulled off the second midseason trade of the season to end last week, bringing in Dennis Schroder and Keon Ellis from the Sacramento Kings in exchange for De’Andre Hunter. This trade is nothing short of a huge win for the Cavs even though it guts their wing depth even further.

Hunter may be 6’8″, but he has been a negative for the Cavs this season, crashing down back to earth after a career-year last season. He’s been rather lackluster on defense, and he’s been incredibly inefficient, that bringing in some defensive help in the form of Schroder and Ellis was a stroke of genius from Cleveland’s brain trust.

But it doesn’t look as though the Cavs are finished reworking the roster. Having the most expensive payroll in the NBA means expecting the team to mount a deep playoff run, but Cleveland has been rather inconsistent this season, failing to recapture the heights of last year’s excellent regular-season campaign.

To that end, the Cavs are reportedly willing to shop Darius Garland, the team’s franchise point guard since 2019, in a rumored trade for Los Angeles Clippers star James Harden.

It’s not quite clear how this would benefit the Cavs other than Harden has been healthier than Garland this season. Perhaps having a healthy 36-year-old Harden would be much better than waiting for Garland to completely heal from his toe problems.

The Cavs want to win big and win now, and having Harden around this season would be better indeed for their hopes of making a deep playoff run over having to deal with the uncertainty of Garland’s situation.

But this scenario should not be what the Cavs are dreaming of with regards to wanting to improve the roster prior to the trade deadline.

Cavs’ dream trade deadline scenario: Trade Darius Garland for a star wing

Harden remains very much an excellent player, and if the goal is to win now, having him around would be very helpful for a Cavs team that is operating with some sense of desperation.

However, Harden and championship level success don’t exactly go hand in hand. In fact, Harden has a track record of seeing his level of play dip come postseason time, as playoff defenses are a different animal to deal with.

Harden being labeled as a playoff choker may not be perfectly fair, but there have been moments where he’s disappeared for his teams when they’ve needed him the most. The Cavs have to know that trading Garland, a 26-year-old star, for someone 10 years older than him may not be the best use of assets.

Cleveland may be footing the largest player payroll bill in the association, but that should not mean that they would compromise on their future just to boost whatever championship odds they have at the moment by a small amount by trading the oft-injured yet younger Garland for a veteran like Harden who’s racked up as many miles in his career as he has.

This doesn’t erase the structural defects of having a two-star setup in the backcourt for the Cavs; they will have defensive issues with Harden at the one, although at the very least, he has more strength and size to deal with other matchups than Garland does. But is relying on a 36-year-old version of The Beard to help fix their defensive issues going to do Cleveland a world of good?

It might be better off for the Cavs to simply try and lean into a more defensive identity this season, with Schroder starting at the one and Jaylon Tyson at the three, instead of rushing Garland back or trading him away for Harden, whom they are going to have to pay big money soon anyway.

This is not to say that the Cavs should not trade Garland away. But this may not be the time to do so. For starters, they are selling low. Garland has suited up in just 26 games this season, with his toe problems casting a huge cloud of doubt regarding his ability to contribute this season.

The market for small guards has also cooled off rather considerably; Trae Young went for peanuts, with the Atlanta Hawks only getting CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert in exchange for their former franchise star.

If the Cavs were to trade Garland, it has to be for an impactful 3-and-D wing that allows the Cavs to rebalance the roster around Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley. And it has to be for a legitimate 3-and-D player, not merely the idea of one like Hunter was.

The problem is that there aren’t too many players of the sort who are available on the market. Someone who comes to mind is Michael Porter Jr.; Porter may not be a renowned defender, but he is one of the best marksmen in the association and he thrives despite not commanding the ball too much in terms of self shot-creation.

The Brooklyn Nets, however, may not want Garland considering how many young point guards they already have on the roster.

If anything, a team like the Dallas Mavericks may be interested in Garland.

Kyrie Irving may return in the future, but it’s not a guarantee anyway that he can still produce at the level of a star upon his return from a torn ACL. With Anthony Davis being shopped by the Mavs, a youth movement could be on the horizon for Dallas. To that end, acquiring a point guard like Garland, who, at 26, is in the middle of his prime, could be worth it.

The Cavs could target players like PJ Washington and Naji Marshall in return, and getting battle-tested veterans to help the team could benefit Cleveland in a playoff setting. In a vacuum, those players are worse than Garland is, but they certainly fit a version of the Cavs that is better on both ends of the floor more than the 26-year-old guard does.

At the end of the day, the Cavs just have to avoid the Harden trap that they are looking likely to walk towards.

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