To no one’s surprise, the Cavaliers have extended a qualifying offer to center Jarrett Allen, making him a restricted free agent, per Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
The QO is worth just over $7.7M with a cap hold of $11.73M.
Cleveland acquired Allen in the multi-team James Harden blockbuster with the intention of locking him into a multiyear deal during the offseason. The addition of Allen led the Cavs to bench and eventually buy out Andre Drummond, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Allen will one of the more attractive names on the restricted free-agent market, but a suitor will likely have to deliver a giant offer sheet to him to make the Cavs think twice about matching it.
The 23-year-old Allen averaged 13.2 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 51 games after the trade. Cleveland is expected to retain Allen even if uses the No. 3 pick in next week’s draft on the top big man prospect, USC’s Evan Mobley.
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