Cavs’ perfect Coby White trade offer to Bulls

The Cleveland Cavaliers have not nearly been as good this season as they were the previous campaign. In fact, the decline has been steep. Following the Cavs’ disappointing 126-124 Christmas Day defeat to the New York Knicks, Cleveland is now the owner of a disappointing 17-15 record.

For reference, the Cavs lost all of 18 games last season — they might tie that total before the calendar even flips to 2026, considering that they’re going to be facing three winning teams in the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Phoenix Suns before the month of January begins.

Suffice to say, the Cavs aren’t where they envisioned they would be at this point of the season. Many thought that they would continue building off their 64-win 2024-25 campaign, putting their disappointing playoff flameout against the Indiana Pacers in the rearview mirror. But a combination of injury woes and underperformance is doing Cleveland in through the first one-third of the 2025-26 campaign, and some changes may be in the offing to rescue the league’s most expensive team.

One trade target that has come up for the Cavs is Chicago Bulls guard Coby White. White is making $12.8 million in the final year of his contract, and the Bulls could end up shopping him to at least get something of value before he hits free agency.

One would think that the last thing the Cavs need is another guard. But talent is talent, and White can most certainly improve the team — or at least relieve their cap sheet of some financial obligations moving forward.

Here is a trade package the Cavs could perhaps put together for White.

Cavs hit soft reset, clear future cap obligations

Cavs acquire: Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Kevin Huerter, 2026 POR first-round pick (lottery-protected)

Bulls acquire: Darius Garland

The most obvious point of contention for the Cavs amid their struggles this year is their backcourt pairing of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. This duo has brought so many regular-season wins for Cleveland over the past three seasons, but now that those regular-season wins have dried up, breaking up that partnership seems to make more sense than ever.

Reports have indicated that the Cavs aren’t going to be making any seismic changes midseason; they might be inclined to do so in the offseason after waiting how things shake up for them this season. This makes sense; Cleveland has been ravaged by injuries all year long, with Garland and Jarrett Allen missing time here and there and Evan Mobley only recently having returned from a calf strain.

When the Cavs get all of their key guys back and still don’t make a run towards the top of the East standings, that’s when overhauling the roster would make sense. To that end, trading Garland away for a package headlined by White could make sense for Cleveland.

It doesn’t seem as though it makes a ton of sense for the Cavs to trade for White while still holding on to Garland. The last thing Cleveland would want to add to their roster is another small guard. It only makes sense to bring in White when they’re giving up another small guard in exchange, which is why Garland is going to the Windy City in this scenario.

There should be no question that Garland is a better player than White; he is a much better playmaker than the Bulls guard, and he has the advantage of having synergy with the rest of the Cavs roster. Garland also has a higher ceiling of production than White (he can be a more efficient scorer).

But the gulf in quality between the two isn’t even that huge in the first place. The Cavs will sorely miss Garland’s floor general composure and unselfishness, but both can struggle defensively due to their lack of size anyway and would become major liabilities whenever opposing teams go mismatch hunting in the postseason.

The difference, however, is that the Cavs will be saving a ton of future money in this scenario. Garland is locked into a huge contract over the next three seasons making $39.4, $42.1, and $44.9 million, respectively. Committing that much money to an undersized guard when Mitchell is the team’s best player may not be the best allocation of resources in today’s NBA.

The contracts of White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Kevin Huerter will all be expiring at the end of the 2025-26 campaign, and considering that Cleveland is neck-deep in luxury tax payments what with them being in the second apron, getting a financial breather could be a goal of theirs if they do decide to trade away a member of their core four.

It’s not like Dosunmu and Huerter won’t be helping the Cavs as well. The former has always brought a spark coming off the bench, doing all the little things that contribute to winning, while the latter could help fill in as the team’s designated marksman amid Max Strus’ injury problems.

Since the Cavs aren’t committed long-term to any of those three players, they could decide to bring them off the bench, instead rolling with Mitchell as the point guard with Jaylon Tyson and De’Andre Hunter on the wings. This should at least help mitigate Cleveland’s defensive problems in the backcourt.

As for the Bulls, it’s easy to see why they would make this trade. For starters, this trade is going to net them an All-Star guard without costing much in the way of future assets. That Portland Trail Blazers first-round pick is lottery-protected until 2028 and would turn into a second-round pick if it doesn’t convey by then. Considering how stacked the West is, there is a possibility that that pick conveys as a second-rounder.

They are also in need of more talent, and pairing him with Josh Giddey in the backcourt at least makes more sense considering that Giddey stands at 6’8″ and isn’t at least as big of a defensive liability as Garland is.

The Bulls don’t seem like they have a roster-building plan anyway, leaving them in the asset accumulation stage. And rehabbing Garland’s value as the main ballhandler in Chicago could help net them more assets moving forward. Or they could always build around the two-time All-Star moving forward.

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