The Los Angeles Lakers have one notable roster need that everyone in the basketball world can now recognize: depth at the center position. Marc Gasol has been good defensively, has not done much offensively and is only playing 20 minutes per game.
The Lakers do not currently have a great contingency plan if Gasol were to get hurt or get into foul trouble in a big game in the playoffs. Montrezl Harrell is great, but playing him in crunch time against a big like Nikola Jokic in the playoffs is a disaster waiting to happen.
There are several options that the Lakers could explore and our own Luca De Angelis broke down his five favorite realistic center options in an article last weekend. One name that Luca did not bring up was Cleveland Cavaliers big man, Jarrett Allen.
With the Cavaliers potentially shopping JaVale McGee and Andre Drummond, we were asked in the latest episode of the Lake Show Life Podcast if getting Jarret Allen was possible and what a package would look like.
Our answer?
There is a zero percent chance that the Los Angeles Lakers trade for Jarrett Allen
The Cleveland Cavaliers simply are not going to trade Allen. Sure, they are shopping the other big men on the roster but they are doing that because they got Allen. Allen is a 22-year-old who has gotten better year-over-year and is going to be a 15 and 10 guy as soon as next season.
Allen is a restricted free agent after this season but that does not matter. The Cavaliers have the ability to match any offer sheet that Allen gets and they will do so — unless some team does bad business and offers him $20 million per season (that won’t happen).
Even if the Cavaliers had the desire to shop Allen, which they likely don’t, the Los Angeles Lakers do not have the kind of package to build. LA would have to trade either Kyle Kuzma or Talen Horton-Tucker and a future first-round pick.
Kuzma is far worse than Allen and THT is also a restricted free agent after this season and is a bit more unproven than Allen at this point. It just would not make sense for Cleveland.
That is not the only thing talked about in the podcast. I discuss whether or not I think Dennis Schroder should get a contract extension after he dropped 21 points against the Denver Nuggets. The answer may surprise you.
I also preview the upcoming game against the Detriot Pistons. The betting lines were not yet available, however, I do guarantee a Lakers win and name my purple and gold role players of the game.
If you have any questions for us to answer on a future episode of the Lake Show Life Podcast you can leave us a review on Apple Podcasts with your question or tweet us @TheLakeShowLife.