Jarrett Allen is not set on playing all 82 games, ‘open’ to a rest plan

Last season, big man Jarrett Allen was the epitome of an iron man for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was the only player on the team to appear in every one of its 82 contests in the 2024-25 regular season, and he didn’t sit out a single game during Cleveland’s time in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, either.

But according to Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson, Allen isn’t dead set on playing all 82 games for them once again in the coming season, and he’s “open” to a rest plan.

“I had a talk with him,” Atkinson said. “He’s open to a [rest plan].”

Some offseason additions the Cavaliers have made should make it easier for Allen to miss some games without Cleveland’s quality of play falling off a cliff sans him. Center Thomas Bryant is now part of the fold in Cleveland after he played for an Indiana Pacers team that knocked it out of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. He knows how to contribute to winning basketball, as his Pacers reached the NBA Finals and lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games in the title series.

However, Bryant isn’t the only notable offseason addition for the Cavaliers in the frontcourt. Larry Nance Jr. has spent much of his NBA career oscillating between playing the center and power forward positions, and he adds an exciting dimension to the team’s offensive attack with his 3-point shooting chops.

Across his last two NBA seasons, Nance has converted an impressive 43.3 percent of his 3s on 1.7 tries per contest.

It’s great that the Cavaliers now have some depth behind Allen up front, but fans of the team should still want to see the 27-year-old out on the court as often as possible, as he’s easily the squad’s best center. Allen nearly averaged a double-double last season with 13.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, and he capitalized on his scoring opportunities more often than not. He shot 70.6 percent from the field.

Hopefully, Allen will log 70-plus games again and only miss some games here and there over the course of the long campaign. It will be important to Cleveland’s title hopes next year that he has great availability in the 2026 NBA Playoffs as well.