The Cleveland Cavaliers have been the subject of plenty of trade rumors this offseason, and rightfully so. They have put together an elite core of players who fell short in the playoffs. With limited options to make an upgrade, they need to improve the team heading into next season. How will Koby Altman and the front office pull it off?
Their biggest (semi-realistic) trade chip is Jarrett Allen, and there have been plenty of potential trades tossed out involving Allen. That’s not the only way they can upgrade the roster – they could trade into the first round to add a wing, they have the full mid-level exception to offer 3-and-D options, and they should be exploring all possible deals involving Isaac Okoro or Cedi Osman.
Jarrett Allen is the best trade chip the Cavaliers have
If they want to make a big swing, however, it’s got to be Jarrett Allen. The All-Star center is beloved in Cleveland but is arguably more valuable to another team that doesn’t have a second elite rim protector like Evan Mobley. There have been plenty of trade constructions tossed around, and they generally follow the same pattern: trade Allen for multiple rotation wings.
The Cavs could trade Allen to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale, or the Dallas Mavericks for Reggie Bullock and Maxi Kleber, and so forth. What hasn’t been discussed much is the possibility of trading Allen not for help on the wing, but for a different kind of big man.
That’s just what ESPN’s Senior NBA writer Zach Lowe proposed on his latest podcast episode. In Friday’s episode of “The Lowe Post” he tossed out an idea for the Cavaliers to move on from Allen and in return add a “unicorn” at the center position. Let’s take a closer look and see just how crazy such a deal might be.
Laying out a trade for a unicorn
The term “unicorn” has been tossed around a bit too often in recent years, but it first came into popular use with the 2015 NBA Draft. Well, the word actually goes back a couple of thousand years to the Latin translation of the Bible, but it entered NBA parlance much more recently. It came to mean a big man who could not only protect the rim like an elite center but shoot the ball like a wing.
The first player to bear this label? Kristaps Porzingis, the Latvian big selected fourth overall in the 2015 NBA Draft. Last season he was finally healthy and displayed just what a unique player he is, scoring 23.2 points per game, shooting 38.5 percent on 5.5 3-pointers per game, while also blocking 1.5 shots per game. In other words, a unicorn.
There is chatter that he could opt into his $36 million player option for next season and look to sign an extension based on that, and with the Washington Wizards almost certainly heading for a rebuild, they could look to flip the 27-year-old big for a younger option in Jarrett Allen. Here’s what a deal could look like:
The Wizards get a young All-Star center they can either build around or move on to another team. He’s young enough that he could last through a multi-year rebuild and help to elevate their defense when they are ready to make a run. Porzingis is a really talented player, but this better fits their timeline. Adding in Cedi Osman and Sam Merrill just barely makes the salary-matching work, which will lower the Wizards’ salary, another boon.
Is this a deal the Cavaliers should consider?
Should the Cavaliers say yes to this trade?
Let’s evaluate this trade in two main parts. First, does this trade make on-court sense? Jarrett Allen is a crucial element to the defense the Cavaliers have built, and Porzingis probably doesn’t bring quite the same combination of rim protection and defense in space. Still, he is a really good rim protector, and paired with Evan Mobley the Cavs should still have a top-flight defense.
On offense is where things start to open up for Cleveland here. Porzingis can space the court, either spotting up or running pick-and-pop actions with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. His presence makes Mobley’s development as a shooter less of a pain point, or more easily allows them to put Isaac Okoro on the court to defend his butt off. His size allows him to bully opposing wings if a team tries to get away with putting a small on him. He’s a major offensive upgrade on Allen.
The other part to this trad,e however, is that Porzingis has spent much of his professional career injured. He and Allen have played in virtually the same number of career games despite Porzingis being drafted two seasons earlier. Sure, he was (mostly) healthy last season, but before that he hadn’t played in more than 57 games in a season since 2016-17. Can the Cavs commit to such a player?
The answer is probably yes. Porzingis is the ideal partner to a player like Evan Mobley at this point in his career, big enough to man the middle as Mobley’s body develops while stretching the court. The injury history is a concern, but Allen hasn’t exactly been an iron man, and there aren’t any debilitating injuries plaguing Porzingis.
The unicorn is worth the swing.
Grade: B+