All-Star Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen's fate with the team is secure, for now, despite recent overtures from rival clubs about his availability via potential trade.
During a new episode of his podcast "The Hoop Collective," ESPN's Brian Windhorst explained to co-hosts Tim MacMahon and Tim Bontemps that the veteran big man is expected to remain with the Cavaliers for the time being.
"There have been teams that have called the Cavs on Jarrett Allen," Windhorst allowed. "There's been some discussion. But the Cavs have sent out the message that they don't want to trade him, and [new head coach Kenny Atkinson] has said, 'I don't want to trade him.'"
"So there's a couple of things that could be happening" with regards to the Cavaliers' thinking about trading Allen and fellow All-Star Darius Garland, Windhorst revealed. "One, they could be saying, 'Yeah, we know our four stars didn't fit together great last year, but now we have a new coach, and we're gonna see how our new coach works with that, and what he does with Evan Mobley this summer.'"
"The other thing is, maybe they don't like what the trade market is for Darius Garland or Jarrett Allen right now, and so... even if they wanted to trade them, it's not prudent to trade them anyway," Windhorst noted.
Since obtaining All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell in a trade with the Utah Jazz two seasons ago, the Cavaliers have been firmly ensconced in a "win-now" approach to the game.
Upon adding Mitchell, the Cavaliers rocketed to a 51-31 record in 2022-23 and their first playoff berth since LeBron James' free-agent departure in 2018. The team was quickly excommunicated from the playoffs by the upstart New York Knicks, who dispatched the Cavaliers in five games during a lopsided first-round series.
In 2023-24, Cleveland went 48-34 while grappling with injuries to Allen and Garland, but managed to survive a tough seven-game first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic, before ultimately falling to the eventual league champion Boston Celtics in the second round. In the Cavaliers' defense, the team was without Allen for the entire series, and without Mitchell for its final two games.
Cleveland team president Koby Altman and owner Dan Gilbert Pelicans reacted decisively in the offseason, firing head coach J.B. Bickerstaff and swapping in Atkinson, previously the Golden State Warriors' title-winning assistant coach.
Allen had a solid season, averaging 16.5 points on 63.4 percent shooting from the floor and 74.2 percent free throw shooting, along with 10.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.1 blocks a night across 77 healthy games, finishing tenth in Defensive Player of the Year voting for his efforts. Unfortunately, his injury luck ran out in the postseason. He only appeared in four of the Cavaliers' 12 playoff games.
The 6-foot-11 Texas product is owed a very reasonable two years and $20 million on the remainder of his contract and seems like a solid trade match for the New Orleans Pelicans — who themselves are allegedly looking to get off the expiring one-year and $36 million left on one-time All-Star swingman Brandon Ingram's contract.
More News: Possible All-Star Cavaliers Trade Target Wants Epic Extension: Report
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Newsweek contributing writer Alex Kirschenbaum is a hoops fanatic who has managed to parlay his passion into a writing career. ... Read more
