Two longtime starting centers in the NBA have not played a single minute to start the 2023-24 NBA season.
One of those is Jarrett Allen, who has been rehabbing an ankle injury and has missed the first three games of the season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have stumbled to a 1-2 record, but that’s just as much a reflection of Darius Garland missing two games and Donovan Mitchell missing another; the Cavs don’t have the offensive horses to replace their All-Star guards.
Evan Mobley, on the other hand, has been a force starting at center in Allen’s place. He put up a historic statline against the Indiana Pacers, and otherwise has proven himself capable of surviving inside for an entire game. He’s at least done enough for the Cavaliers to ask the question: are they ready to consider Jarrett Allen trades?
Another team has been without their starting center to start the season: the Memphis Grizzlies. Also missing their backup 5 in Brandon Clarke and their All-Star point guard in Ja Morant, they have flopped to an 0-3 start that includes a loss to the tanking Washington Wizards.
The difference for the Grizzlies is that Steven Adams isn’t coming back this season after undergoing season-ending knee surgery. It’s likely untenable for the Grizzlies to try and survive the entire season with Xavier Tillman Sr. manning the fort at center, and Jaren Jackson Jr. is still way too slap-happy when he plays at center (Jackson leads the league in personal fouls).
Adams’ injury, announced just prior to the start of the season, could lead the Grizzlies to get desperate to upgrade their center position. The strong play of Evan Mobley at center could lead the Cavaliers to become comfortable fielding trade offers. Could the two teams make a deal?
A necessary step in any trade discussion between the two teams is finding a third team. The Grizzlies have a core group of players they’re unlikely to move in a deal for a center, and then have a large step down to the rest of their rostered players. They will likely need to involve draft capital to balance out a deal.
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, are ready to win now. They could take back draft capital for Allen, but that would require finding another deal down the line to use those assets, in the meantime continuing to play without either Allen or the ultimate addition those assets would bring in. It’s much more likely that the Cavaliers force the Grizzlies to find that third team before a deal.
A logical third party is Brooklyn, as the Nets are not tanking but do recognize they are not competing for a championship right now. They are also stocked with two-way wings that could fit into lineups between the Cavs’ star-studded backcourt and Mobley in the middle. Let’s see what such a trade could look like:
The Grizzlies turn two of their first-round picks into a starting center who has proven he can be the backbone of an elite defense. Allen also would free Jaren Jackson Jr. to continue defending at the 4, where his help defense is better deployed and where he can be protected from foul trouble. They move on from a recent first-round pick in Ziaire Williams and use Steven Adams’ deal as matching salary.
For Brooklyn, this is about acquiring assets. They get two first-round picks to help them go big-star hunting or to rebuild their depth with young players, depending on their vision of the next few years. Williams becomes a reasonable young flier, and Adams and Rubio’s salaries are the cost of doing business, while also representing low-percentage gambles at having good veteran trade assets a year from now.
What about Cleveland? Would this deal make sense for them?
If the Cavaliers are going to move forward with Evan Mobley at center, they need to have solid defenders at other positions. One of the reasons that Cleveland had the best defense in the league last season despite two below-average defenders in the backcourt was the pairing of Allen and Mobley; taking away Allen and adding another defensive liability is not a recipe for success.
The Cavs have a few of those players on the roster, as Max Strus is a decent defender and both Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade are great ones. Things start to thin out from there, however, whether it’s a large role for Georges Niang or needing to play another big alongside Mobley. That’s why the construction of this deal might just work.
Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale are both proven NBA defenders, with a track record of defending high-octane perimeter players in playoff environments. Neither is a spring chicken anymore (both are 30 years old) but both are solid veterans who can step in and play a role immediately. O’Neale has 44 playoff appearances to his name; Finney-Smith has 35.
Two-way wings mark the largest weakness on the team at this point, and this deal would bring in a pair. Is it feasible for the Cavaliers to try and target more of a star in an Allen deal? Perhaps, but “stars” at the 3 and 4 are more expensive than one at center, so they would need to add assets — ones they probably don’t have — to pull off such a deal, be that for someone like Jerami Grant or Pascal Siakam.
Mobley is a rising star, and along with Garland and Mitchell gives this team a lot of shot creation. Max Strus, Georges Niang and Dean Wade provide a lot of shooting. Caris LeVert is the redundancy built in for when Garland or Mitchell miss time. Is it more valuable to the Cavaliers to have a center like Allen to pair with and back up Mobley? Or is it more valuable to turn Allen into two players who can play multiple positions and unlock lineup versatility?
It’s a fair question, and Allen is a valuable player to the Cavaliers. This kind of trade, taking advantage of the Grizzlies’ desperation, could be the right kind of move to unlock the best versions of a two-way playoff rotation. It’s worth strongly considering.
Grade: B+