3 Cavaliers Trades To Shake Things Up In 2025

This trade would send Garland to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for LaMelo Ball and Ryan Kalkbrenner. This season, Garland is averaging 14 points, three rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 35.3 percent from the field. 

Ball, on the other hand, is scoring 19.4 points per game, six rebounds, and 8.5 assists while shooting 38.6 percent from the field. This may seem like a rather even trade, but there’s a good chance Ball could fit in with the team better. 

Garland is primarily a scorer, while serving as a skilled but not elite playmaker. Ball is the opposite, acting as an elite playmaker and skilled scorer. 

Ball is also six inches taller than Garland, but also weighs about 10 pounds less. Ball’s presence would help with length, but he may get pushed around a bit more as Garland is the better defender. 

Kalkbrenner could be an excellent addition off the bench, too, as the Cavaliers are lacking depth when it comes to their big men. In his rookie season, he’s averaging nine points and 6.7 rebounds a game while shooting 79.8 percent from the field.

The most important aspect of Kalkbrenner’s game when it comes to Cleveland, however, is his consistency as he’s averaging 1.9 blocks, 1.9 personal fouls, and 1.2 turnovers. Considering he’d be coming off the bench, this would be an ideal kind of player to back up Allen and Mobley. 

This trade would make the Cavaliers starters Ball, Mitchell, Hunter, Mobley, Allen, while Charlotte would be starting Garland, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges, and Moussa Diabate.  Garland is the best player in this trade, and this is the least likely to happen. It could shake things up enough without sacrificing too much in Cleveland to make a positive difference, though, as this season is off to a rough start. 

Plus, the Ball brothers on the same team in the NBA would be marketing gold. 

Brandon Ingram 

This trade would bring Brandon Ingram to Cleveland in exchange for Garland straight up. Although this may seem drastic for the Cavs to move Garland, it could be beneficial for both teams.

For Cleveland’s end, it would finally give them their everyday starting small forward. Despite acquiring De’Andre Hunter last season from the Atlanta Hawks, the Cavaliers still tend to change the starting three depending on the matchup. 

This would (presumably) make the starting lineup Mitchell, Jaylon Tyson, Ingram, Mobley, and Allen. Mitchell could also be slid to his regular two spot, with Craig Porter Jr taking the reins as starting point guard. 

The thing is, with Garland’s injury history, the starting lineup looks something like this a lot (excluding Ingram) already. It would also inherently give Tyson, Porter, and Tyrese Proctor larger roles and could help to elevate their play. 

Mitchell has proved to be an excellent facilitator as well, making the transition to a point guard relatively smooth (as he’s already spent time at the position). How would this help Toronto, though? 

For the Raptors, Garland would instantly be the best point guard on the team. The trade would make the starting lineup Garland, Grady Dick, RJ Barrett, Scotty Barnes, and Jakob Poeltl. This would also have Immanuel Quickley coming off the bench, which could prove to be a huge boost for the second unit. 

Another thing this would do for Toronto is clean up its small forward position. With both Barrett and Ingram on the roster, both of whom are starting-caliber forwards, it creates some awkward rotations and would make each player’s role more definitive. 

Through 26 games this season, Ingram is averaging 21.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 47.2 percent.

Wizards Haul 

This trade would send Jarrett Allen to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Bilal Coulibaly, Bub Carrington, and Tre Johnson. A lot of people, fans and players alike, would be sad to see Allen go, but this trade could be too good to pass up for either team. 

For his part, Allen is an elite rim protector and a major part of what this Cavaliers team has built. This season, he’s averaging 14.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists per gam,e and 0.9 blocks with a 57.3 field goal percentage. 

While losing Allen would drastically change the dynamics of the team, the new depth could make the difference in these close games that Cleveland has been losing. Johnson (the rookie) is averaging 11.5 points per game, while Coulibaly and Carrington are averaging 8.8 and 7.0, respectively. 

All three of these Wizards average between 3-4 rebounds, between 1 and 4.2 assists, and have a field goal percentage between 37 and 44.5 percent. While none of these lines are stellar, they do represent a group with a lot of potential. 

The Washington group would also inject a nice size increase into the roster as Coulibaly is six-foot-seven, Carrington is six-foot-four, and Johnson is six-foot-five. Having these three players would also flesh out the wing, as was the intent of the Hunter acquisition last season. 

This would give the Cavaliers a starting lineup of (seemingly) Garland, Mitchell, Hunter, and Mobley at the five with a rotating four (and still sometimes three) spot based on the matchup. The Wizards would then have a starting lineup of CJ McCollum, Kyshawn George, Khris Middleton, Alex Sarr, and Jarrett Allen. 

This could set Washington back in terms of talent. It would, however, get an elite center paired next to Sarr and George in what would be an excellent core to build around. If the team did indeed still struggle this season, they own their own 2026 pick, possibly adding another great talent to that core. 

As much as it would hurt to see Allen in another uniform, change might be necessary to get them over the hump, and this trade could do just that. 

End Of My Cleveland Cavaliers Rant 

None of these trades are moves that the Cavaliers win outright, but each could help the team enough to get their season on track. The Ball trade would align Cleveland’s point guard more along the line of their playstyle, and the Ingram trade would finally get an everyday small forward. The Allen trade, while the least exciting and probably most likely to actually happen, would drastically improve the Cavaliers’ depth. 

None of these are guaranteed to improve the team by the end of the season, but it seems like with each passing game, the need for change is becoming clearer. If Cleveland keeps losing, a major trade could very well be imminent.