The Utah Jazz are a favorite to land Darius Garland and that should worry all of us

It's not that shocking to hear us say we're not big fans of Keyonte George currently. His inefficient scoring has us all worried that he'll not reach the heights so many think he should. We're unsure of what his finished project will actually end up looking like but if there's a trade to land a top-tier guard who's under 30, George should be on the first flight out to help make that trade a reality.

The one guard we don't want in return, however, is Darius Garland of the Cleveland Cavaliers. While George is a streaky shooter and terrible defender, Garland is one of those players whose numbers don't actually tell the whole story of his impact, or lack thereof.

A terrible defender, and an inconsistent presence on an NBA court, he's far more in line with the likes of D'Angelo Russell than he is on Steph Curry. A solid scoring guard, who can pass but doesn't provide much else to a winning team. A point we saw in real-time as the Cavaliers struggled to win when he was on the court alongside Donovan Mitchell during the arc of their 2023-2024 campaign.

When Garland was out, the Cavs were unstoppable, when he returned, the Cavs were handcuffed both offensively and defensively. It's not that Garland's unplayable, it's that his impact defensively is so bad, that he'd have to be Steph Curry's level of good to make up for it. Due to that, whatever impact he can muster is negated by his bad defense.

Not only that, his offensive is only so good. He turns streaky very easily and can fall off for a few games straight, without making much impact. Making the combined issues on both sides of the court plenty enough reasons to avoid him.

Yet, the odds have the Jazz fourth in line to land Garland. A move that would not make the Jazz better on defense, and may only improve their offense marginally at best.

If the Utah Jazz have to pick between Garland and George, pick George.