The Indiana Pacers are reportedly looking to trade for a center, but their alleged targets might not include Cleveland Cavaliers' Jarrett Allen, according to a new piece from HoopsHype's Michael Scotto.
"The Pacers have been searching for a long-term starting center upgrade," Scotto wrote on January 6. "The Pacers gauged the price tag on various centers leaguewide this season, including Utah’s Walker Kessler, Los Angeles’ Ivica Zubac, Brooklyn’s Nicolas Claxton, Dallas’ Daniel Gafford, New Orleans’ Yves Missi, and others."
Could Allen be a part of the "others" group suggested by Scotto? Sure, but wouldn't it have made sense for Scotto to feature Allen by name, given the fact that he mentioned an inferior asset in Missi?
On the other hand, if the Pacers truly aren't pursuing Allen, there must be some mysterious problem with Allen (or Indiana's front office) that is unknown to the public.
Indiana Pacers have every reason to target Jarrett Allen, so what's stopping them?
Allen seems to check all of the boxes for Indiana amid their search for a center. He's in his athletic prime (27 years old), he's an All-Star-level rim protector, he'd be a lethal lob threat for Tyrese Haliburton (starting next season), and he's not overly expensive.
Allen is making $20 million this season, and then $90.7 million combined over the next three seasons. That'll be an increasingly cheap annual salary compared to newly signed starting centers in the coming years.
Oh, and the Cavaliers might legitimately be looking to trade Allen, which would place Indiana in a decently leveraged position. The double big era/experiment with Allen and Evan Mobley has definitely reaped some rewards (see: the 2024-25 season), but it has also felt clumsy at times. Allen's increasingly minimized role in 2025-26 suggests that Cleveland is aware of this.
Since Mobley's second NBA season, Allen's minutes have decreased each year. He's averaging 20.6 minutes per game this season, which is the lowest of his career outside of his rookie season (20.0).
Allen might welcome a change of scenery, too, for the betterment of his career. He made his lone All-Star Game in 2021-22 (his second year with the Cavs) but hasn't been back since. Not so coincidentally, 2021-22 was also Mobley's impressive rookie season.
An Allen-Pacers deal isn't hard to draw up.
For the money to work, Indiana could send over Bennedict Mathurin's expiring contract along with one of either Isaiah Jackson or Jarace Walker -- two young power forwards whom Cleveland could definitely utilize. Add in whatever draft capital would make both teams happy, and you have a deal.
Are the Pacers too high on Walker and/or Jackson to trade them? Are they planning to re-sign Mathurin? Or, is there something terribly wrong with Allen that we don't know about?
These are all tough questions to answer. Without further clarity, it's difficult to explain why the Pacers aren't going all in to snatch Allen out of Cleveland before Feb. 5.