A few notes before discussing each team… This is just to show that the money works here. The exact value of Ingram and Garland can be debated as to who is better and/or more valuable to their own team (thus the other team would receive more in the trade). For example, if Garland is the “better player” New Orleans can throw in picks to sweeten the deal. On the flip side, if Ingram is more valuable, the Cavs can toss in this years first, several seconds or any combination of their 3 and D wings on team friendly contracts (Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro, Caris Levert, Sam Merrill, or Emoni Bates). With that out of the way, here’s the impact for each team.

Starting with Cleveland… The Cavs are in a very weird spot where they have two choices this offseason. 1) Build around Mitchell in the East (which outside of Boston is the weakest it’s been in years). 2) Trade Mitchell and let the young guys develop around DG. All the reporting coming from Cleveland is saying that the team intends on going with the latter. Assuming those reports are accurate, DG is as good as gone. Cleveland needs to find a better fit on its roster to move Mitchell to the point. With this trade Cleveland’s starting five is as follows: Mitchell, Strus, Ingram, Mobley, Allen and their supporting cast off the bench is: Porter Jr, Levert, Okoro, Niang, Wade and the occasional appearance from Sam Merrill. (I personally would like to see the Cavs also move a wing or two to free up some minutes for Sam Merrill, maybe they can try to get Nance in this deal to have a real bench C?)

Onto New Orleans…. They need a young PG to build around Zion and get him the ball. Adding Garland (the third best player from Zion’s draft class) would be a dream come true for the Pelicans. They’re getting a young, all-star caliber PG to run the offense and dish the ball to their big man down low. As the trade currently stands, the Pel’s starting five would be as follows: DG, CJ, Herb Jones, Zion and Valanciunas and their supporting cast off the bench would be the exact same as it is now.

Overall, not only do I view this as a win/win, I think it’s an extremely realistic trade as well. As a Cavs fan, my dream scenario involves trading DG and Dean Wade for Mikal Bridges and Finney-Smith, but after hearing the nets turned down four 1sts and Jalen Green for Bridges, I doubt they’ll trade him at all (though who knows the Raptors turned down three firsts from the Grizzly’s for OG, just to trade him for a few players and a second). All of that said, what does everyone else think? Do the Cavs need to toss in Wade and a 1st? Do the Pelicans need to attach multiple 1sts to BI to get DG? Let me know!