According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, confirmed by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Darius Garland has undergone surgery to repair the damage suffered to his big toe.

The injury was first discovered on March 23rd, but he only missed two games in the regular season. In the postseason, Garland’s production and minutes were up and down due to the injury. He was seen playing through it in their series against the Indiana Pacers.

In total, he missed four playoff games after re-aggravating the injury in their series against the Miami Heat.

Despite Cleveland confident in the 25-year-old’s ability to “make a full recovery and resume basketball activities by the start of training camp” that begins in October, doctors expect him to be out for the next four-to-five months. This will force him out for the beginning of the next regular season.

In 75 appearances last season, Garland averaged 20.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game.

According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Cleveland Cavaliers are slowly inching towards the possibility of trading away cornerstone piece Darius Garland.

Not only have they shown interest, but Windhorst believes Cleveland begun trade talks with teams who have interest in the talented guard.

For the past year and a half, Cleveland have been rumored to want to trade away Garland. However, it was constantly shot down by general manager Koby Altman.

Despite constantly shooting it down, it appears this offseason may be the time where they become more open-minded and actively shop him to better the organization.

An additional sidenote relating to the news, Windhorst has stressed the fact that the 25-year-old does not want to leave and is currently loving his role within the Cavaliers. If he were to be traded, this would entirely fall upon the organization’s motives and not the players.

According to Chris Fedor, the Cleveland Cavaliers would love to re-sign Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill, two key players during their regular season run, but teams could have the advantage of outbidding Cleveland.

Due to both players being able to earn larger contracts this offseason, Cleveland will be in a tough situation of how they’ll be able to structure contracts to satisfy both their financial situation and the player’s worth.

Both Merrill and Jerome were signed to contracts near the veteran minimum this past season, which won’t be the case heading into the new season. Merrill could look to make more than league minimum salary for the first time in his career, plus see Jerome have a larger role with a larger paycheck.

It has been well documented how teams are beginning to show real interest in one of the league’s best sixth men.

Ultimately, this all comes down to how much further front office leader Koby Altman wants to go into the second apron for the likes of their two bench role players. Attempting to sign both will be seen as an aggressive move, as it will push them further into the tax.

This could lead the Cavaliers to picking between Merill, Jerome, or possibly losing the bidding war on both players.