The Cleveland Cavaliers may already be staring at a tough decision on Jarrett Allen.
Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley has urged Cleveland to move the big man this season, pointing to the fit alongside Evan Mobley as the biggest issue. Buckley’s case is straightforward: the pairing still brings “spacing constraints,” Allen’s rim-running job is the most replaceable part of the setup, and Mobley could even fill some of that space himself.
Allen is set to make $28 million this season, and Buckley noted that his contract is attractive enough to draw real interest around the league. He wrote, "The spacing constraints of his pairing with Evan Mobley haven't gone away, and Allen's rim-running role seems the easiest to replace (perhaps by Mobley himself). It's also a coveted archetype, and he's on a good contract (three years, $90.7 million), so it wouldn't be difficult to drum up interest," Buckley wrote.
That kind of market makes sense given what Allen has been over the course of his career. The one-time All-Star has played for the Brooklyn Nets and Cavaliers and owns career averages of 13.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He’s also a career 64.1 percent shooter and has received votes for Defensive Player of the Year three times.
Last season, Allen posted 15.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting 63.8% from the field and 70.9% from the free-throw line. He finished with 20 double-doubles. In the 2026 playoffs against the Toronto Raptors, Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks, he averaged 12.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest.
Still, the conversation around Allen goes beyond production. He does not have a no-trade clause, and around the NBA there’s a belief Cleveland could move him if the season goes sideways. His deal is viewed as easy to trade, and teams are said to admire him.
Buckley went as far as to rank Allen as a top-10 trade target in the league, placing him fifth behind Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant, New Orleans Pelicans swingman Trey Murphy III and LA Clippers point guard Darius Garland (1).
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are under heavy pressure to make a deep run because of the money tied up on the roster. Cleveland will pay Mitchell and Mobley a combined $133 million in 2029-30. And if things go wrong again in the 2027 playoffs, Buckley suggested it wouldn’t be a shock if Mitchell, Harden and Allen were no longer on the roster by 2027-28.
For now, Cleveland opens the season against LeBron James and the 76ers in Philadelphia. LeBron left the Los Angeles Lakers for the 76ers in free agency, and the source material says everyone in Cleveland expected him to return in the summer, but he didn’t.
If the Cavaliers are still struggling near the 2027 NBA trade deadline, Allen’s name could come back into the center of the conversation.
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Hezonja has looked more physical and athletic in those tune-up minutes, which is exactly the sort of trait that can matter for a team trying to build a sturdier bench behind its core. If that carries into the season, he could give the Cavaliers a useful option on the wing and potentially bring more to the table than Dean Wade did in that reserve role, even as the larger question remains how much of this early promise translates once the games count. [Read more 🡒]
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What stood out most, though, was how often the Celtics kept creating extra chances, a reminder that the Cavs front line has some clean-up to do before the games count for real. The rebounding issues were hard to miss, and with James Harden out as a precaution because of ankle soreness, the opener became less about the final result and more about how quickly Cleveland can tighten the details that tend to decide better teams. [Read more 🡒]
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Proctors case gets stronger because he is not just adding muscle, he is absorbing lessons from established scorers around him, including Donovan Mitchell and James Harden. That kind of daily education can speed up the learning curve, but the Cavaliers still appear to be looking for a very specific defensive profile before they settle the backup guard rotation. So while Proctor has made this competition more interesting, the final shape of the bench remains very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]