Through the first 30 games of the season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are 16-14, which isn't where anyone expected them to be, especially not after finishing with 64 wins in 2024-25. With the trade deadline a little over six weeks away, it's time to wonder what the front office could do, and if Jarrett Allen, who has been in Cleveland since 2021, will be on his way out.
The Cavaliers haven't reached full-on panic mode. They haven't made any of their core players available. On Tuesday, Joe Vardon of The Athletic reported (subscription required) that the front office has rejected "at least two trade offers for rotation players." It's not like Cleveland is actively trying to trade Allen, but that could change.
Allen is averaging 25.9 minutes per game, his lowest with the Cavaliers, and overall, his lowest since he was a rookie. It gets even worse than that, as he's averaging only 4.8 minutes per game in the fourth quarter. With Kenny Atkinson opting to keep the big man on the bench to close games, fans are questioning if the next few weeks will be his final in Cleveland.
Will the Cavaliers try to trade Jarrett Allen before the deadline?
Like everyone else in Cleveland (or that's what it feels like), Allen has missed 11 games this season due to injuries. It started with a right finger sprain in the second game of the season, and then a few days after that, he fractured his left ring finger.
Allen has been back in the lineup since Dec. 13, and in the four games he's played this month, he's averaged 12.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per contest. He hasn't played with Mobley since returning, as the Cavaliers announced on Dec. 13 that Mobley would miss two to four weeks with a calf strain.
Cleveland has yet to have its actual starting lineup on the floor together, which will hopefully happen sooner rather than later. Maybe that will happen before the trade deadline. The Cavaliers are limited in what they can do to upgrade the roster via trade because they're a second-apron team, so there shouldn't be much hope for what they could do before then.
A possibility that they could explore, though, is moving off Allen's contract, as he is signed through the 2028-29 season. It's not ideal to pay someone $28 million whom you don't trust to turn to in the fourth quarter.
Allen, who is 27, should have a couple of interested suitors around the league, but the question is whether the front office could get the kind of package the team needs in return. If some fans had it their way, he'd already be out the door, but the Cavaliers don't seem to be ready to take it that far (yet).