Cavs insider believes Jalen Suggs could be potential target if they trade Darius Garland

Rumors of the possibility of the Cleveland Cavaliers breaking up their core four of guards Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell as well as big men Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley have grown louder recently in light of the team’s disappointing second-round exit in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

Maybe no player of Cleveland’s core four experienced more of a drop-off in his impact in the 2025 NBA Playoffs compared to the 2024-25 regular season than Garland. During the regular season, he was a very consistent scorer and playmaker for the Cavaliers and even earned the second All-Star appearance of his pro career.

But as has been the status quo so far in his NBA career, he underperformed when the playoffs rolled around and didn’t play at the top of his game when the Cavaliers needed him the most.

Cavaliers insider Chris Fedor sees Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs as a potential trade target for the Cavaliers should they part ways with Garland in light of another underwhelming playoff stint. Fedor shared a hypothetical trade option that would net the Cavs Suggs and Tristan da Silva.

“I understand that Jalen Suggs is not as good of a player as Darius,” Fedor said. “I understand that Jalen Suggs is not as naturally gifted or talented as Darius, but he brings a lot of stuff that this team would benefit from. He can handle. He can distribute, he can guard his butt off, he can shoot from the perimeter, he can drive, and he gives you more size, more toughness, more tenacity.”

Suggs isn’t the gifted scorer and passer that Garland is, but he’s still an effective offensive player. He averaged 16.2 points and 3.7 assists per game for a Magic team that qualified for the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

It is worth noting that he was limited to 35 appearances during the regular season due to injury.

The 23-year-old is more than capable of being one of the top scoring options on a good team all the while being a significant upgrade over Garland on the defensive end of the ball. Suggs is too talented of a defensive player for other teams to easily pick on him on that end in the playoffs as they have with Garland in recent years.

Suggs was named to the All-Defensive Second Team in the 2023-24 season and finished 10th in voting for that campaign’s Defensive Player of the Year award as well.

Cavaliers fans should be unsurprised if Garland is still a Cavalier for the beginning of the 2025-26 season, but if he isn’t, it’s hard to think of a better replacement for Garland than a dynamic two-way player like Suggs who plays the very same position.