Jarrett Allen offered a reassuring response after a right knee injury ended his night early in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday.
“I’m alright,” Allen told cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
Fedor shared Allen’s comment after the game, reporting that the center had been limited to seven minutes. The response gave Cleveland a more encouraging note after his exit, although it did not establish when he would be able to play again.
Kenny Atkinson said afterward that Allen would be examined Thursday. The distinction matters with the Cavs preparing to host the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday: Allen’s assessment of how he felt was not an announcement that he had been cleared.
What the Cavs have said about Jarrett Allen’s knee
Allen left during the first quarter after contact with Jared McCain while setting a screen. He did not return to the game, which Cleveland lost 124-116.
Atkinson was still waiting for more information when he addressed the injury in his postgame comments.
“I don’t know yet, too early to determine,” Atkinson said. “So the wrap, it gets wrapped, and I think they collide [knees]. So we’ll get looked at tomorrow and see what it looks like.”
Cleveland has already dealt with a concern involving Allen’s right knee this season. Before the opener, the NBA’s Oct. 21 injury report listed him as questionable because of right patellar tendinopathy.
That earlier designation, covered in Cavaliers Nation’s season-opening injury update, provides background on the same knee. It does not establish that Wednesday’s collision aggravated that condition or produced the same diagnosis.
How Allen’s injury affects the Cavs’ rotation
If Allen misses time, Atkinson would have to decide how much of the center workload to shift to Evan Mobley and how much to assign to Thomas Bryant.
Those choices also affect the forward minutes around Mobley, creating a possible opening for larger combinations involving Mario Hezonja.
There is a difference between using Mobley as the lone big man for selected stretches and organizing an entire game without Allen. The former allows Atkinson to choose those minutes according to the matchup; the latter would also require a plan for the possessions when Mobley rests.
Cleveland was already weighing those lineup tradeoffs before this injury. Atkinson recently addressed his decision to leave Hezonja out of Monday’s closing group, which featured Mobley alongside James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Meleek Thomas and Sam Merrill.
That decision concerned which available players should finish a game. Allen’s evaluation could introduce a different constraint: which combinations Cleveland can use from the opening tip.
No replacement starter has been established by the postgame comments. The Cavs also finished Wednesday with another injury concern after Tyrese Proctor left in the fourth quarter with an apparent ankle injury.
Atkinson expressed hope that the problem would not be serious, but the postgame update did not establish his availability for Friday either.
For Cleveland, the next meaningful development is the result of Allen’s evaluation and the team’s availability update before Philadelphia.
His brief response offered reassurance after an unsettling exit, while leaving the medical assessment to determine what comes next.
