Cavaliers News: LeBron Trade, Best of France, Rubio retires, Allen dominates

Just what the doctor ordered. After a pair of close losses that threatened to burst the good-times balloon the Cavaliers have been riding, a week of games against the worst teams in the league have righted the ship and the vibes. The Cavs absolutely blasted the Washington Wizards in consecutive games, then held on against a desperate San Antonio Spurs team to go 3-0 this week.

It's Tuesday, which means it's time for another edition of Cavs News - your one-stop shop for all of the news, analysis and rumors on the Cleveland Cavaliers.

French Week

Playing San Antonio on Sunday meant the franchise's first matchup with No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama. The rookie center played well, dropping 24 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. His ability to wall off the paint from any driving player is inhuman, and he should be one of the best players in the league in a couple of years. Superstardom is coming.

It was a fitting start to the week, as after the victory the Cavaliers boarded a plane and flew to Wembanyama's home country of France for one of the NBA's international games in Paris. They will take on the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night, 2 PM ET for those back home in Ohio.

The team seems to be enjoying themselves in Paris, which delightfully has a dusting of snow on the ground.

In honor of French Week, we put together a list of the 5 best French players in NBA history. You likely won't be surprised at who is on the top, but Wembanyama as a rookie is already making a compelling case to crack the Top 5. Check it out!

Ricky Rubio retires

Last week the news broke that Ricky Rubio and the Cleveland Cavaliers were agreeing to a contract buyout. This was not a surprise; Rubio had been away from the team since the offseason, and it became increasingly likely he would not be rejoining the team. Thursday the news became official, with the two sides agreeing to a buyout amount and then Ricky Rubio announcing his retirement from the NBA.

As part of the buyout agreement, Rubio gave back just under $5 million across the remaining two seasons on his contract. Per Bobby Marks, that includes $3.7 million this season and $1.3 million for next year. The Cavs are now $3.2 million below the luxury tax this season, giving them room to take on salary in a trade and/or sign two-way rookie Craig Porter Jr. to a full NBA contract.

Jarrett Allen dominates

Jarrett Allen did not have a great end to last season. He began to fade in the Cavaliers' calculus on both ends as Evan Mobley came on late, then was knocked around in the playoffs by the New York Knicks. His late start to this season due to injury didn't help matter.

In the last few weeks, however, Allen has absolutely exploded back into the two-way force he was during his All-Star campaign two seasons ago; honestly, his improved passing likely makes this the best stretch of his career.

Over his last three games Allen put up 58 points, shooting 64 percent from the field and 92 percent from the stripe. He has 47 rebounds, second-most in the league in that span, to go with 12 assists, three steals and four blocks -- and just five total fouls. There is a lot of competition to make the All-Star Game this season, but Allen is squarely in the conversation now.

LeBron James trade rumors

The Los Angeles Lakers have floundered since winning the In-Season Tournament, falling all the way to 18-19, in 10th place in the Western Conference and just a half-game above 12th. Last week it came out (from six anonymous sources, no less) that the team was frustrated with Darvin Ham, and specifically with his continually shifting lineups.

That led to speculation that LeBron James could decide to leave and request a trade. If so, would a return to the Cavaliers be a possibility? We broke down a proposed trade that would swap one of the Cavs' stars for LeBron and evaluated whether it would make sense for Cleveland.

Cavaliers trade rumors

Trade season is underway and quickly accelerating to ramming speeds. The Cavaliers are certainly not left out of the swirling trade winds, with various rumors about whether they could be buying or selling swapped with rapidity.

We try to interact with those rumors as intelligently and fairly as we can here at King James Gospel. To that end, in the past week we ranked each player on the Cavaliers by their likelihood of being traded, then discussed which Donovan Mitchell trade partners would make sense if the Cavaliers decided to trade him. We also discussed landing spots for Caris LeVert and whether a Golden State Warriors forward could be a future star in Cleveland.

What's Next

The Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Brooklyn Nets from Paris on Thursday. That game will be on NBA TV at 2:00 PM ET. They will then get a break to fly home and adjust back to their timezone before hosting the Chicago Bulls next Monday, the 15th.