The Cleveland Cavaliers have two big men who are both having record-breaking years. Most people already know about the feats of rookie Evan Mobley, but few are hearing about the season that Jarrett Allen is having and it is a shame. Allen is averaging 17.3 points per game and 11.2 rebounds per game with a 71% field goal percentage.
That has him on pace to be the first player in NBA history to average 15 points and 10 rebounds in a season while shooting 70% from the floor. Not Wilt Chamberlain, not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, or even Giannis Antetokounmpo…but Jarrett Allen.
For his career, Allen has averaged 11.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game while holding a 61 percent field goal percentage. In his first full season in Cleveland, however, Allen has blossomed. Playing alongside Mobley and the other young player on the Cavs roster has allowed Allen to become the player many believed he could be when the Nets drafted him 22nd overall in the 2017 NBA draft after just one year of college at the University of Texas. Allen was taken ahead of guys like OG Anunoby, Kyle Kuzma, and Dillon Brooks and was seen as a disappointment up until he was traded to the Cavs last year.
He found new life on a team that was actually willing to play him through his growing pains and it paid off for both the player and the team. Allen was rewarded with a five-year $100 million contract in the off-season and the Cavs might be rewarded with their first playoff birth without LeBron James since 1997.