RealGM

Shortly after the Cleveland Cavaliers season ended in the second round against the Boston Celtics, reports came out about dysfunction within the team. One of the central issues was that star guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland hadn't found their footing as a backcourt pairing. It was going so badly that reports said Garland would ask for a trade if Mitchell extended in Cleveland.

However, that's not the truth, according to Garland.

"I don’t want to be traded," Garland said. "Those are just rumors."

In fact, Garland has met with Cavs GM Koby Altman, and the topic of a trade has never come up. Garland indicated he's happy for Mitchell and happy with Cleveland's hiring of Kenny Atkinson as their new head coach.

Via Chris Fedor/Cleveland.Com

Either Garland will be traded or Mitchell will ask for a trade. It's as simple as that. Small franchise GMs don't understand how to deal with stars.

He wants to be traded.

Interesting. There has certainly been some trade buzz regarding Cleveland but it's possible that is only speculation from outside observers and analysts that think there is too much role duplication with small guards(Mitchell/Garland) and non-spacing bigs(Mobley/Allen). Maybe the Cavs are content to just run it back and hope Garland and Mobley level up this year. Mitchell just signed a big new contract - if nobody is unhappy then the Cavs can at least make deals down the line from a position of strength, all four of those dudes have value.

This means after Mitchell decided to stay unexpectedly that now the market has dried up for Garland. He has to take an L and say this per management so he can be traded by the deadline this year after building up his stock somewhat (use your brain guys).

RookieJazz wrote:Either Garland will be traded or Mitchell will ask for a trade. It's as simple as that. Small franchise GMs don't understand how to deal with stars.

There was a time, not long ago, where a "star" was a player who transcended the game. These are players that, if you ask anyone around the world, would know who they are based on name alone. MJ, Kobe, LeBron, etc.

I'm not sure Mitchell and Garland are "stars," much like the majority of big name players today. Of course, this is solely my opinion.

Cavs: We should have traded you, with fewer picks, instead of Lauri Markannen, to Utah.

Mitchell at PG with whatever Strus-ish shooting guard they could have found two years ago, and I don't know if even the Celtics could match up with them. Malik Monk was right there, as well.

TheCage4 wrote:

RookieJazz wrote:Either Garland will be traded or Mitchell will ask for a trade. It's as simple as that. Small franchise GMs don't understand how to deal with stars.

There was a time, not long ago, where a "star" was a player who transcended the game. These are players that, if you ask anyone around the world, would know who they are based on name alone. MJ, Kobe, LeBron, etc.

I'm not sure Mitchell and Garland are "stars," much like the majority of big name players today. Of course, this is solely my opinion.

There was a time, not long ago, when if a player broke his jaw, lost 12 lbs off a thin frame, only to come back during the hardest part of the schedule, with two starters and a key reserve out, that potential trade partners would've viewed that as an opportunity.

Garland's about to come back healthy, ready, with a new coach, and smoke those teams. Of course, this is solely my opinion.