Cavaliers giving star center lucrative contract extension

The Cavaliers and center Jarrett Allen have agreed to a three-year extension that will begin in 2026-27, when the big man’s current deal expires, agent Derrick Powell tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

According to Wojnarowski, the deal will be worth the maximum that Allen can receive on a veteran extension, which is just shy of $91M over three years.

Players are permitted to receive up to 40% raises in the first year of an extension and Allen will make $20M in 2025-26. That means he’ll earn $28M in the first year of his new deal, followed by salaries of $30.24M in 2027-28 and $32.48M in 2028-29, for a total of $90.72M.

Allen, 26, has spent the past three-and-a-half seasons in Cleveland, emerging as one of the NBA’s most reliable starting centers during that time. After starting his career in Brooklyn, he became a Cavalier as a result of the four-team blockbuster trade in January 2021 that sent James Harden to Brooklyn, then re-signed with the Cavs on a five-year, $100M contract during the summer of 2021.

Allen was named an All-Star in 2022 and has averaged 15.1 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 blocks in 31.8 minutes per game with a .642 FG% across 252 outings (241 starts) since arriving in Cleveland. He established new career highs in PPG (16.5) and APG (2.7) this past season, but a rib injury in April ended his season early, sidelining him for the Cavs’ last eight playoff games, including the entire second-round series against Boston.

Allen is the third Cavaliers starter to agree to a lucrative multiyear contract extension this offseason, joining Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley. Cleveland will now have its top four players — Mitchell, Mobley, Allen and Darius Garland — under contract through at least 2027 — Mitchell holds a player option for 2027-28.

While Allen has been the subject of some trade speculation in recent years — the Pelicans are known to have significant interest in him — signing this extension will make him ineligible to be dealt for six months.

Unless he waits until Aug. 7 or later to sign his new contract, Allen will become trade-eligible prior to the Feb. 6 trade deadline.