Jarrett Allen Is the Answer to the Lakers' Center Search amid NBA Trade Rumors
The basketball gods may have just granted the Los Angeles Lakers' biggest wish for the 2025 NBA offseason.
The Purple and Gold have a glaring void to fill at the center spot, and a 27-year-old recent All-Star who plays that very position just appeared on the trade rumor mill.
Jarrett Allen, who has helped fuel the Cleveland Cavaliers' ascension to Eastern Conference contender, could be up for grabs this summer. While that's not given, Cleveland.com's Chis Fedor recently relayed on the Wine and Gold Talk podcast that the Cavaliers seem "more willing to entertain or at least consider possibilities for Jarrett Allen...than they have in the past."
Allen may not quite be a star—though he did earn an All-Star nod in the 2021-22 season—but he covers virtually all of L.A.'s must-haves on the interior.
Rim protection should be a non-negotiable for the Lakers' next big, since perimeter leaks are unavoidable with Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves (assuming he wouldn't be needed in an Allen trade) and 40-year-old LeBron James. Allen ranks among the league's stingiest near the basket, having just held opponents to just 52.2 percent shooting at the rim, per NBA.com.
Reliable close-range finishing ranks a close second on the list of coveted traits. Allen just led the entire league with a 70.6 field-goal percentage. He was even better around the basket, netting 77.2 percent of his restricted-area shots, the second-best mark among all players with 200-plus attempts.
Savvy work in the pick-and-roll game is yet another essential, since Dončić can feel unguardable when working alongside a high-end screen-setter. Allen aces this qualification, too, tallying the third-most points and holding an elite 87th percentile efficiency mark as a pick-and-roll screener.
Just about the only thing Allen doesn't provide are perimeter shots, which, sure, if the Lakers got really greedy, would also be a part of their dream big man. Notably, though, he is a capable free-throw shooter (career 71.2 percent), meaning he isn't vulnerable to any hack-a-big defensive shenanigans. He's also comfortable and competent from the in-between area, so he retains value even when he can't get all the way to the basket.
Throw in the fact Allen keeps active with the traditional big-man duties like rebounding (career 11.8 per 36 minutes, per Basketball-Reference) and shot-blocking (1.6 per 36 minutes), plays with a great motor and moves well enough away from the basket to not get skewered on switches, and he sure sounds an awful lot like exactly the kind of player the Lakers want.
"I think in terms of center traits, it would be great to have a center that was a vertical threat, lob threat and someone that could protect the interior defensively," Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka told reporters. "I think those would be keys."
That's basically Allen in a nutshell.
And he not only does all of those things, he does them in a way that almost always positively impacts winning. For his career, his clubs have fared 2.2 points better per 100 possessions with him than without. During his four full seasons in Cleveland, that number has jumped to plus-4.7.
He'd be an awesome fit, and the Lakers might have just enough to land him. Building a package around Rui Hachimura (or even Reaves if needed), a future first, a first-round pick swap and Dalton Knecht might get a handshake done.
If nothing else, Allen's potential availability should have L.A.'s full attention. Among all realistic candidates to fill the vacancy at center, he sure seems like the most qualified.
