Es Baraheni

Like it was insane.

As this trade season approach, I thought we could see the Cavs get a little crazy, but I didn't think Darius Garland.

I certainly did not think James Harden would be part of that equation.

So nuts is certainly a good way to describe it.

I think that this is a move for the Cavs that is just like, hey, we didn't actually believe or we had to stop believing, I guess, would maybe be a better way of putting it in the core for that.

They assembled that they had believed in since Donovan Mitchell arrived in Cleveland and even with Garland and Mobley and Allen dating back before Mitchell's arrival in Cleveland.

I think a lot of it because I still do look at what was with Darius Garland when he was healthy and at his best and what that Cavs team.

And I know that last year's team is not this year's team, but what the ceiling of that group was particularly offensively with him as the engine is through the roof.

And this year he was not the same guy.

There were glimpses of it, right?

Like we've seen him have good games this year, but the fact that now he has a toe injury on his other foot, it's hard for me to look at this situation and think that if Darius Garland were fully healthy,

if he didn't have the issues he had in the playoffs last year with the left foot, didn't have the issue with the foot on the other side, the right foot.

Now it's hard for me to think that that trade gets made, but the Cavs are ultimately in a spot where they have pressure to perform.

They have pressure to, you know, advance in the playoffs and an Eastern conference that is wide open right now.

And I guess the question becomes, well, who do you trust more?

Do you trust James Harden in the playoffs or do you trust Darius Garland to be available and at his best in the playoffs?

It's a tricky question.

I don't know that either of them are great answers, but I can at least expect James Harden to be available.

And I think that is kind of the thing that puts us over to the edge is James Harden for all of his shortcomings.

And he asked them, right?