Cavaliers Trade for All-Star Forward in Blockbuster Mock Proposal

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been remarkably quiet this offseason, not making any moves other than signing Donovan Mitchell to a multi-year extension and replacing J.B. Bickerstaff with Kenny Atkinson. The plan seems to be to bring back the core four of Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen for at least another season.

Not everyone is on board with this plan, however. The Athletic's NBA insider John Hollinger proposed a deal as one of his favorite fake trades that involves a blockbuster move by the Cavaliers. The structure of the trade is as follows:

Cavaliers receive: Brandon Ingram, Cole Anthony
Magic receive: Darius Garland
Pelicans receive: Wendell Carter Jr, Jett Howard, Caris LeVert

Basically, Cleveland turns Darius Garland and Caris LeVert into Brandon Ingram and Cole Anthony. This would be a massive win for the Cavaliers if they can do this without surrendering any draft capital.

On paper, Garland has more trade value and potential upside than Brandon Ingram. However, he is unlikely to reach there next to another ball-dominant guard Donovan Mitchell. Their fit in the last two seasons has been less than stellar.

Ingram is entering the final year of his contract, so the Cavs will need to give him a long-term extension. Considering how desperately the Cavs have needed a small forward for years, Ingram is the right fit for this team.

In addition, Cleveland adds Cole Anthony, a dynamic scoring guard who is a good option as the sixth man.

After this trade, the starting lineup becomes Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus, Brandon Ingram, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen with Anthony, Dean Wade, and Georges Niang coming off the bench. That is a more balanced, two-way team.

Whether GM Koby Altman has any plans to trade Garland remains to be seen, but if there is a package similar to this, he should seriously consider it.

More Cavaliers news and rumors: