{"id":819895,"date":"2026-08-20T12:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T12:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/819895\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T12:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T12:56:14","slug":"darius-garland-on-trade-to-la-i-was-pretty-happy-i-was-coming-to-a-new-opportunity-just-to-take-on-a-new-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/819895\/","title":{"rendered":"Darius Garland on trade to LA: I was pretty happy, I was coming to a new opportunity just to take on a new challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

What was it like getting traded midseason? Was the transition hard? Darius Garland: The trade was actually pretty easy for me, bro, to be honest with you. Which was crazy; we were already in LA, we had a road trip to LA already, so the transition wasn’t too hard, to be honest with you. Mentally, it wasn’t a shock, but it was still like a shock. I’ve been here for seven, seven and a half years, and now just to up and pack my bags like that, it was just like, dang. But it’s part of the business. I understand the business side of it. So once I got to LA, I was pretty happy. Got to be in a new city, like a real new revamp. So it was cool. Easy transition, though. Super excited to be there. I was pretty happy. I was coming to a new opportunity just to take on a new challenge. So I was excited about that<\/a>. \u2014 8\/20\/2026 HoopsHype<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s it like playing for Ty Lue, and how does his vision fit your game? Darius Garland: It’s super cool, because I’ve actually watched him in 2016. I told him I wanted to play a little bit like Kai [Kyrie Irving] and how he played in 2016 in that Finals run.<\/a> So actually seeing his vision actually work, so trying to implement it into my game, I think it would be pretty cool. It’s going to be pretty interesting how he tries to fit it in. But I’m super excited. We’ve been talking a lot about the offense this year. I’m super excited to get back over there in LA and just be with the team and be with the guys. \u2014 8\/20\/2026 HoopsHype<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you think people have forgotten what you’re capable of? Darius Garland: Yeah, for sure. It usually happens like that, especially when you have a couple of injuries. They tend to forget about you. But that’s what another 82-game season is for: to go ahead and revamp yourself, show everybody what you’re capable of. And show the confidence and the work that I put in this summer, to go out there and just lay it on the line. What do you have to prove? What do you think is that next level? Darius Garland: To be honest with you, I don’t think I have to prove anything, brother. Just want to be the best player I can be out there. Try to go win basketball games as much as I can<\/a>. \u2014 8\/20\/2026 HoopsHype<\/a><\/p>\n

This season, Cleveland<\/a> will have 16 sets of back-to-backs, a trio of four-game homestands, a lengthy six-game road trip (March 9-18), four holiday games (Halloween, Veterans Day, New Year’s Eve and MLK Day) and five matinees. James comes to Cleveland with the Sixers twice (Nov. 6 and March 1) this season. The Cavs pursued him in free agency this summer, hoping for a third stint with the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2003.<\/a> Former Cavalier Darius Garland will return to Cleveland for the first time since being traded for James Harden<\/a> last February, with that visit scheduled for Dec. 31. The Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs<\/a> visit for the only time on Dec. 15. \u2014 8\/13\/2026 Cleveland Plain Dealer<\/a><\/p>\n

Maxey<\/a> was an unquestionable key factor in the 76ers’ landing James. Maxey had a strong relationship with James, as both are represented by Klutch Sports. With James joining a new team that has lots of egos and needs, having a connection with the point guard was an edge for Philly. Some will say Harden’s role as Cleveland’s point guard affected James’ decision, but there is more nuance than that. It’s not that the Cavs having Harden was a factor, sources said, but rather who the Cavs did not have. To get Harden from the LA Clippers<\/a> in February, the Cavs traded Darius Garland, a Klutch-repped point guard with whom James has had a yearslong relationship. In the end, there were three strikes against Cleveland: Family not being an issue in LeBron’s choice, the front office not making a deal for Brown and the Cavs’ roster not featuring Garland. To say it was one of these factors more than the other might be missing the big picture<\/a>. \u2014 7\/25\/2026 ESPN<\/a><\/p>\n

“[Donovan] Mitchell, [James] Harden, [Evan] Mobley<\/a>, [Jarrett] Allen. Dan and Grant — which is the Gilberts. Plus Koby [Altman], he was there when LeBron<\/a> won there,” Paul said. “Big, big, big X factor, let me talk to you about Brandon Weems,” who is the Cavs’ assistant GM under the president of basketball operations, Altman, and was a childhood friend and James’ high school teammate. “Brandon Weems is basically LeBron’s brother,” Paul said. “Now, he worked his own way [up], nobody gave him anything. He’s earned to be in the front office of the Cavs. “But that is a big feather in the cap [for Cleveland], because of Brandon Weems.”Paul added that the Cavs would have been even more appealing had the roster still featured fellow Klutch client Darius Garland, who was traded to the LA Clippers for Harden last season. “This is no offense to Harden,” Paul said. “Because he loves Garland like he loves Maxey.”<\/a> \u2014 7\/3\/2026 ESPN<\/a><\/p>\n

Law Murray: Keaton Wagler mentioned that Darius Garland was one of the first people to reach out to him and wish him well<\/a> \u2014 6\/24\/2026 x.com<\/a><\/p>\n

LA Clippers<\/a>: Darius Garland presented Alireza Beiranvand with the Superior Player of the Match Award after today’s Belgium vs. Iran match<\/a>? \u2014 6\/22\/2026 x.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Mikel Brown conducted a workout for the Clippers in LA on Thursday and also has traction as a candidate here. Sources say the Clippers have interest in Darius Acuff Jr., but his fit with a similar-sized guard in Garland is an obstacle<\/a>. \u2014 6\/22\/2026 ESPN<\/a><\/p>\n

Garland doesn’t think LeBron will head back to the Cavs “Sunny days, 75 every day. \u2026 It’s 40 there now,” Garland said Tuesday on “Ball In The Family Podcast”<\/a>. \u2014 6\/3\/2026 Sports Illustrated<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What was it like getting traded midseason? Was the transition hard? Darius Garland: The trade was actually pretty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[27494,6418,2957,38268,355,347668,99],"class_list":["post-819895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-darius-garland","tag-james-harden","tag-la","tag-la-clippers","tag-nba","tag-pretty-happy","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}