Darius Garland draws interest from Western Conference team amid NBA trade rumors

Could Darius Garland be next?

The upstart San Antonio Spurs have spent this summer adding veteran talent for generational young big man Victor Wembanyama. That includes acquiring forward Harrison Barnes and point guard Chris Paul .

The idea for front office head Brian Wright and Co. is to bridge the gap between short-term relevance and long-term contention after yet another 60-loss season in San Antonio.

San Antonio has also been linked to some big names on the NBA trade block . It was in on Dejounte Murray before he was dealt from the Atlanta Hawks to the New Orleans Pelicans. The Spurs were also rumored to be interested in Murray’s former teammate with the Hawks, Trae Young.

Nothing has come to fruition on the trade front for San Antonio. But it has not come without the team trying its best. We have a latest example of this.

Related: San Antonio Spurs standing in Sportsnaut’s NBA power rankings

San Antonio Spurs called Cleveland Cavaliers about Darius Garland trade

Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports reported on Wednesday that San Antonio inquired about the All-Star guard. As of right now, the Cavaliers are not interested in trading Garland.

“Before San Antonio brought Chris Paul to organize the Spurs’ offense around Victor Wembanyama, sources said San Antonio called various teams around the league exploring veteran guards who have still yet to enter their primes,” report on San Antonio Spurs inquiry . “Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland was another talented ball-handler the Spurs called about, sources said, although Cleveland has rebuffed any inbound trade interest for Garland to date.”

Garland, 24, was apparently on the trade block earlier this offseason. But when the Cavaliers signed fellow guard Donovan Mitchell to an extension, they seemingly opted to keep Garland around.

As for the Spurs, they opted to keep their plethora of draft assets and signed Paul in free agency. He’ll act as a veteran presence for Wemby moving forward.

In no way does this mean that the Spurs are done for the Summer. They join the aforementioned Warriors as one of two teams most linked to Utah Jazz star big man Lauri Markkanen in what would be a blockbuster trade.

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