Regrading the Cavs’ Jarrett Allen trade with the Nets

Regrading Cavs’ trade for Jarrett Allen: How it went

Jarrett Allen’s play the remainder of the 2020-21 season was solid, if unspectacular. He flexed a lot of the two-way muscle he had when given the opportunity in Brooklyn, but he wasn’t blowing the doors off the barn. He averaged 13.2 points and 9.9 rebounds across 40 games, eventually forcing Andre Drummond to the bench and off the team. He turned in a positive Box Plus-Minus despite playing on a losing team, leading all full-time players.

Then came the summer and restricted free agency, when Allen was re-signed within minutes of free agency beginning to a five-year, $100 million deal that we re-examined here. At the time it was signed it looked like a classic “who else was paying him that much” sort of contract that the Cavs felt they had to offer since they had traded for the guy.

Since then Allen has exploded into the top tiers of centers. We’ll rank the league’s Top 30 centers on the site in a few weeks, but few could compile a Top 10 list without including Allen. He averaged career highs in points and rebounds at 16.1 and 10.8, respectively. He made for an elite pick-and-roll partner with Darius Garland, finishing second in the league in field goal percentage. When he or a teammate missed he was often right there to put it back in, with his 12.0 rebound percentage 10th in the league.

Defensively he was a monster as well, one of the league’s best rim protectors with the mobility to switch out onto the perimeter at times. The Cavs were one of the best defenses in the league with him on the court. Allen made the All-Star Game and if he hadn’t missed time late due to injury may have been in the mix for an All-Defense Team.