Grade the Trade: Warriors finally land All-Star center in bold new pitch

Laying out a Jarrett Allen trade

The Cleveland Cavaliers face a conundrum with their current roster, one they have been ignoring for as long as possible. They have two elite defensive centers in Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, and while the two can survive and even thrive on the court together defensively, neither has been able to add a 3-point shot to allow them to coexist on offense. Despite their prodigious talent, the Cavs are better when only one of them is on the court.

Jarrett Allen had the best season of his career this year, even better than his All-Star season in 2021-22, and was the second-best player on the Cavaliers. When Evan Mobley and Darius Garland were out of the lineup for an extended period of time, Allen thrived playing with a floor-spacer at the 4 and propelled the Cavs to a dominant record during that short-handed stretch.

At the same time, Evan Mobley is younger, a more versatile defender and has more offensive upside even if he has not yet realized it. If the Cavaliers trade one of them this summer, and it seems almost certain that they will, they will almost certainly move on from Jarrett Allen.

Enter the Golden State Warriors and a trade offer that looks like this:

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been at their best with one big on the court and that has largely meant Dean Wade has stepped in as the starting power forward. Unfortunately for both Wade and Cleveland, he has struggled to be healthy at the ends of seasons, and the Cavaliers could desperately use a player who can step in at either forward position and both defend opposing wings and space the court.

Andrew Wiggins fits that bill even if he had a bad start to this season, and he could start at either the 3 or the 4 for Cleveland. They would also land a long-term backup to Evan Mobley at center and add a two-way wing in Moses Moody who could replace Max Strus over the next couple of seasons. In return they move on from Jarrett Allen, opening up the spacing on their starting lineup, and also send Caris LeVert, whose secondary shot creation is less valuable to them than it is to the Warriors.

The Cavaliers would likely make this trade; would the Warriors? And more importantly for our purposes, should they? Let's dig into the deal from Mike Dunleavy's point of view and grade the trade for Golden State.