1 deal Cavs must make with 2025-26 NBA trade season underway

The Cleveland Cavaliers are flatlining. While the expectations for them weren’t very high in the aftermath of their second-round playoff flameout against the Indiana Pacers, them being a .500 team around the one-third mark of the season felt very much impossible. But the Cavs, following a 136-125 loss to the Chicago Bulls that marks their second-consecutive defeat to Chicago and their third overall loss, are down to 15-14 on the season — a far cry from the powerhouse 64-win team of last campaign.

The 2024-25 Cavs lost their 14th game of the season on March 21, 2025; the 2025-26 Cavs did on the 19th of December of the same year. Something is going very wrong for the Cavs, and considering that they’re a second-apron team with barely any more moves left in the arsenal to help improve the team, they have to be feeling very desperate to turn things around.

Now, it has to be noted that the Cavs have not been healthy all season; Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen have routinely missed time due to injuries, Evan Mobley is currently nursing a calf strain that will be keeping him out for multiple weeks, and even Donovan Mitchell, their undisputed best player on the season thus far, is beginning to miss games. (He missed the Cavs’ loss to the Bulls on Friday with an illness.)

Reports have indicated that the Cavs aren’t likely to blow it up this season, preferring to instead explore that possibility when they crash out early in the playoffs once more. But this roster may be a sunk cost and it might be time to pivot.

Here is the trade the Cavs must pull off to try and change the course of their 2025-26 campaign.

Cavs break up the Donovan Mitchell-Darius Garland backcourt

Cavs acquire: Julius Randle, Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller, 2028 MIN first-round pick swap

Timberwolves acquire: Darius Garland

It’s no secret that the Timberwolves are looking for a point guard amid Mike Conley’s decline and Rob Dillingham’s inability to make the starting point guard spot his. All season long, Minnesota has relied on Anthony Edwards to be the team’s point guard, splitting playmaking duties with Donte DiVincenzo.

Minnesota’s point guard situation has gotten so dire to the point that they’ve been relying on Bones Hyland to log some key minutes for the team as of late. Now, Hyland has been good thus far this season. But he’s an undersized point guard who runs hot and cold, and he doesn’t have the greatest track record. As a bench piece, he’s perfectly fine. As a starter, he might be getting stretched far too thin.

Minnesota has reportedly kicked the tires on potential trades for the likes of Ja Morant and James Harden, both of whom could be made available by their respective teams amid their struggles. But the Memphis Grizzlies have been playing better as of late, with Jaren Jackson Jr. in particular coming to life, while the Los Angeles Clippers aren’t likely to just punt on the season considering that they owe an unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Now, it’s unlikely for the Timberwolves to simply throw caution to the wind and pull off a blockbuster trade for a star guard. They have made it to the Western Conference Finals for two consecutive seasons, and what’s helped in that regard is that they barely have any defensive liabilities in the rotation. Smaller point guards become targets in a playoff setting, which might push Minnesota to avoid targeting a player of smaller physical stature in a trade.

Nonetheless, if someone like Garland could become available for a discounted price, then maybe the Timberwolves would want to pounce.

Considering how the Cavs cannot aggregate contracts in any trade due to them being in the second apron, they will need to take on less money in any Garland trade. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, could package Julius Randle, Rob Dillingham, and Leonard Miller to make salaries work in any potential trade for the Cavs floor general.

Garland has long been coveted by the Timberwolves dating back to the 2019 NBA Draft. (Cleveland selected him fifth, leaving Jarrett Culver for Minnesota at sixth.) And Garland could be a long-term solution for them at the point guard position, as he’s still under contract for three more seasons.

For the Cavs, letting go of Garland will be painful. He is a homegrown star, after all — the first of their core four to arrive on the team. He blossomed into an All-Star in 2022 and is one of the best pick-and-roll maestros in the association. But a backcourt of him and Mitchell, with two smaller guards, was always going to have a short shelf life.

Opposing teams can pick apart that backcourt in a playoff setting, and the Cavs are experiencing firsthand just how limited the ceiling is when two guards of smaller physical stature are two of the team’s most important players.

Cleveland has some options at the guard position anyway if Garland were to depart. Craig Porter Jr. has always been good whenever he gets minutes. Lonzo Ball remains a defensive ace even if his offense comes and goes. Mitchell could also become the team’s de facto point guard, with Cleveland instead choosing to surround him with three-and-D wings. In this scenario, Randle could help Mitchell with playmaking duties.

There will be the matter of the Cavs’ frontcourt logjam. But having Randle around, a bruising presence who can dominate the glass, could help make Cleveland feel that much more confident with having Mobley as the full-time center — making Jarrett Allen one of the best situational bigs in the league or a trade asset to bring in a 3-and-D player who fits better alongside Mitchell.

It’s becoming evident that the Cavs need a change. It will be painful to say goodbye to Garland, but it’s even more painful for the fans to witness a powerhouse in the East devolve into a shell of themselves.

A trade like this may not happen until the offseason, but if the Cavs become desperate enough, then no one can rule anything out at that point.

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