While many Cleveland Cavaliers fans were blindsided by the Darius Garland trade to the Los Angeles Clippers, the one person who was not was Garland himself.
“It was going to happen regardless, either at the [trade] deadline or this summer,” Garland told Marc J. Spears at Andscape. “[My agent] Rich [Paul] had that conversation with me last summer.”
The Cavs clearly had made a decision internally about how they wanted to approach the inevitable shakeup required to not only make the team fit, but also be financially feasible. Trading Garland, who was an All-Star last season, has failed to live up to that stature this year. The 26-year-old suffered a mysterious toe injury in the playoffs last season, requiring offseason surgery and a delayed start to the season. But even after returning, Garland did not look like himself.
“The toe definitely had a factor in it (the trade),” Garland continued. “They didn’t know if I was going to be healthy for this season, which I will be.”
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The consistent injury issues, coupled with the reality that the Cavs’ window of opportunity is now, made the trade all that much more necessary. And the player Cleveland got in return is awfully good, fitting into that “win-now” mode.
“They thought that James (Harden) had something that I didn’t, I believe,” Garland said. “He has experience in playoffs and All-Star numbers still to this day, even though he wasn’t an All-Star this year. But yeah, they want to win right now. They have a group, too. And I guess I really wasn’t part of the plan.
“But now, I’m over here in a really good situation.”
Garland has yet to appear in a game for the Clippers this season, though both he and the team remain adamant that his debut is coming soon. The Cavs may have made the right decision on their former franchise point guard, with his inconsistent health becoming an excuse too often. While his departure from Cleveland came under unfortunate circumstances, it seems both sides are happy with the deal.