In the summer of 2021, the Cleveland Cavaliers took advantage of a standoff between Lauri Markkanen and the Chicago Bulls. The 7-foot stretch-big was a restricted free agent, which froze out his suitors around the league, but he also wasn’t getting a contract he was comfortable accepting from the Bulls. Neither side seemed willing to budge.
That’s where the Cavaliers swept in, working out a three-team sign-and-trade that sent Larry Nance Jr. to the Portland Trail Blazers and brought Markkanen in to form a supersized frontcourt. The contract for Markkanen turned out to be good value after a strong season with the Cavs, and it’s now one of the best in the league after breaking out further in Utah.
There is another standoff in the league this summer, with the Charlotte Hornets and forward P.J. Washington unable to agree to terms on a new deal. Could the Cavs swoop in again and add a plus rotation piece at a discount? It’s certainly a possibility, and Cleveland will hope it could pull it off without giving up one of its core players.
Could the Cavaliers trade Jarrett Allen to the Hornets?
What if it did take a core player? The Cavs have been rumored to be discussing Jarrett Allen at times this offseason, and now are rumored to be interested in Washington. They wouldn’t give up their All-Star center for Washington alone, but could he be at the center of a deal to add multiple Charlotte players?
Let’s look at three different deals, based around this Allen-for-Washington framework, that could help diversify the Cavs for next season. Are any of them worth making for the Cavaliers?
Trade No. 1: Allen triples in size
The Cleveland Cavaliers currently have 12 guaranteed contracts on their books, plus the non-guaranteed deal of Sam Merrill. That gives them the flexibility to turn a valuable player like Jarrett Allen into multiple pieces.
Let’s assume that the Cavs work out a sign-and-trade deal with P.J. Washington for a new contract averaging $17.5 million per season over four years, starting at $16 million in the first season. They could then add two smaller salaries to that contract number and bring back three players by sending out just Jarrett Allen. Here’s what it could look like:
Mark Williams had a solid if unspectacular, rookie season for Charlotte last year. He projects as a good defensive center and finisher and perhaps has some potential for skill development beyond that. Bryce McGowens is a throw-in combo guard to develop with the Cleveland Charge. The centerpieces here are Allen-for-Washington, but with Mark Williams, the Cavs also get a replacement for Allen to develop.
Although Williams has played one season, this is essentially “Washington and a first” for Jarrett Allen. That’s not terrible value, but it’s also not a move that makes them better for next season, depending on your view of Washington, as he’s the only surefire rotation player in this deal. Given the youth of Williams and McGowens, this is more of a future play, and it’s not one with a particularly high ceiling outcome.
Trade No. 2: Frontcourt Overhaul
The problem that the Cavaliers are dealing with in their frontcourt is that they have two players best suited to play center in Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, and then no true small forwards to play beside them. They have generally elected to go smaller at the 3, deploying the likes of Isaac Okoro and Caris LeVert, and this summer signed 6’5″ Max Strus to fill the role.
If the Cavaliers are looking to diversify the return for Allen, they could go for an actual forward-sized player to step in at the 3 as well as slotting P.J. Washington in at the 4. Here’s that deal:
Miles Bridges is a controversial player in the league, and it’s possible that the Cavs want nothing to do with him given the charges he has been accused of. That’s very fair. If they are open to the idea, Bridges would be the best small forward on the team since LeBron James left.
He is playing this season on the qualifying offer, which means he is both a bargain now and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer; he also can’t be moved until September 30th, so this would be a deal to execute as Training Camp opens. Bridges can veto any trade, so this would need to be worked out with him, but going to Cleveland would get him out of Charlotte and let him showcase himself on a winning team.
If he plays extremely well, he will leave in free agency next summer, as the Cavs will have only Non-BIrd RIghts or the Mid-Level Exception to re-sign him. If he plays just mildly well, they could convince him to come back on a 1+1 at the Non-BIrd level (120 percent of his current salary) and then build him up to a big payday when they acquire his full Bird Rights.
Bridges and Washington seem like an excellent pairing alongside Evan Mobley in the frontcourt, a pair of players who are plus defenders and good shooters and scorers. Charlotte gets to wash its hands of the Miles Bridges situation, and in return gets to significantly revamp its defense with Jarrett Allen and Isaac Okoro.
This deal has its risks, but there is also a very real upside for the Cavs to have their best starting five in years.
Trade No. 3: Sign and Trade Collector
The biggest restricting factor in a sign-and-trade is that it hard caps a team at the first tax apron, usually a few million over the luxury tax line. A famous example of this coming into play was when the Golden State Warriors took back D’Angelo Russell in a sign-and-trade in 2019, forcing them to offload Andre Iguodala and spend very judiciously to fill out a roster without hitting that apron, which cannot be exceeded for any reason.
The Cavaliers don’t have to worry about triggering that hard cap, as it’s already in place; by using the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception to sign Georges Niang they hard-capped themselves; they did the same by using the Bi-Annual Exception on Ty Jerome. No matter what happens, they already need to avoid that first tax apron.
If they’re already fine with the hard cap, then perhaps they go big and target two Charlotte Hornets free agents. In addition to P.J. Washington, Kelly Oubre Jr. is languishing in free agency without a new contract or an obvious landing spot. What if the Cavs sign Washington to that deal starting at $16 million, and Oubre to a three-year, $39 million contract starting at $11.5 million? Such a crazy construction could look something like this:
On the one hand, the Hornets getting back an All-Defense caliber center for two players they didn’t even have under contract is ludicrous. On the other, the Cavaliers have no other viable path to adding two such players at the same time, and this would give them a pair of frontcourt players with real size and two-way ability.
Oubre’s breakout year last season was largely empty calories, and the NBA at large has appeared to notice that and hasn’t handed him a lucrative contract. Even so, he is an above-average shooter and long-limbed defender who would be a positive addition to the Cavaliers’ rotation. The Cavs would also be signing him at a discount to what he was expected to make, which is always a shrewd move.
None of these three trades are crazy, but none of them are sure things, either. The second trade, where the Cavaliers get back a fringe All-Star player in Miles Bridges as well as P.J. Washington, is the best combination of value and upside. It’s unlikely that Cleveland makes any of these deals, but these all illustrate one way to use Allen to get back multiple players.