CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers locked up another one of their core players, agreeing to a multi-year contract extension with center Jarrett Allen, according to the Cavs.
The reported multi-year, $91 million maximum contract extension will guarantee Allen $131 million over the next five seasons, with Allen under contract with the Cavs through the 2028-29 season. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the three-year extension Wednesday.
Allen, 26, had arguably the best season of his NBA career last year with the Cavs, averaging 16.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists in 33.7 minutes per game over the 77 regular season games he played in. Before a rib injury sidelined him for most of the postseason, Allen was a driving force behind the Cavs' success.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have spent the month of July locking up their core pieces.
First, the team signed star guard Donovan Mitchell to a three-year contract extensionat the start of the month. A few weeks later, the team signed forward/center Evan Mobley to a five-year contract extension. And just before the month came to an end, Allen and the Cavs came to the contract agreement.
President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman said back in May at his end-of-season media availability that he didn't expect to make sweeping changes to the roster, and they liked their core four of Mitchell, Mobley, Allen and Darius Garland.
Altman addressed why keeping the core together felt like a good decision for the organization.
"I think that's overblown. I'll say this. I think there's way more data that speaks to it works than doesn't in the last two years combined because they've been together for two years, there's a lot of data that we can look at. And so over the last two years, including the playoffs, there are net positive, +5 together on the floor. Everyone wants to throw out the first year together when Darius actually had one of the best years of his career, he was an All-Star, but he actually had more efficiency and that was with Donovan. They have a great relationship on and off the court," Altman said. "And the same thing goes to say the fit of the Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen—that fit actually has a higher net rating than our guards."
