Trade & FA 2025-26: Free Agency Starts 5pm CST/6pm EST

[mvossman]

Is Darius Garland worth his $40m/yr contract?

Roughly equivalent to Kyrie’s pay, but at different places in their careers.

Is his contract a net positive? Negative? Neutral?

If you’re going to pay a player almost a quarter of your cap, seems like he needs to be more than just a solid player. He needs to be a real, game-changing star.

So in a trade, you’d need to send $40m of your (hopefully) underperforming payroll, not $40m of your overperforming or even neutral payroll.

I would trade him for Kyrie in a heartbeat.