There’s been smoke about New Orleans targeting Allen via trade dating back before 2023-24. It surfaced again in December after the Cavs lost both Darius Garland and Evan Mobley due to injury, a development that made it easy to believe Cleveland would sell at the trade deadline as two of the team’s core four players were lost for extended stretches.

The Cavs have weathered that injury storm better than anyone anticipated, at 11-3 since Garland joined Mobley on the injury shelf a few weeks ago. General manager Koby Altman reportedly has no plans to move Donovan Mitchell despite the latter’s well-known preference to play in his native New York, and Cleveland’s appetite for an Allen trade seems similarly nonexistent.

Even if the Cavs largely stand pat at the trade deadline, though, Allen will remain a popular subject of trade proposals heading into the offseason and beyond. It’s clear by now Cleveland won’t scrape its highest ceiling until Mobley—whose all-around skill development this season has been somewhat disappointing—transitions to being his team’s full-time center. The extremely reasonable two years and $40 million remaining on Allen’s contract past 2023-24 only adds to the expectation he could soon be on his way of Northeast Ohio, too.