Jarrett Allen hears the trade rumors. The Cavs still have plenty of reasons to keep him

Jarrett Allen seems to spend part of every summer in trade rumors. Then the season arrives, and he goes back to doing things the Cavaliers appreciate.

Protecting the rim. Finishing around the basket. Playing hard without needing the offense built around him. Being the kind of teammate people like having around.

Allen hears the speculation. He just doesn’t see much benefit in letting it run his life.

“You just hear about it, you understand that it’s a possibility and you just have to live with it,” Allen said, as relayed by Ashish Mathur of Roundtable⁠.

“At the end of the day, it’s not my choice about where I want to go. It’s not my choice about a lot of the things I do in my job. I just have to go out there and be the best player I can be and in the summer I have to focus on improving even more.”

That’s a fairly practical answer from a player who has had plenty of practice giving one.

Allen is coming off a career year in which he averaged 15.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists while shooting 63.8 percent from the field. He remains an important part of Cleveland’s defense and gives James Harden and Donovan Mitchell a reliable target near the basket.

The Cavs also like him. A lot. So do his teammates and plenty of the fans who watch him work every night.

None of that prevents outsiders from drawing up trades. The Allen-Evan Mobley pairing has been debated for years, particularly when the conversation turns to spacing and how Cleveland should build its frontcourt.

Fair enough. There are basketball questions worth discussing. That doesn’t mean the Cavs are looking to move Allen.

My view is that they should keep him. Getting equal value would be difficult, and replacing his contributions would involve more than finding another big man who can catch a lob.

You would also be replacing his defensive presence, his familiarity with the group and his willingness to handle a role that doesn’t always produce much attention until something goes wrong.

Allen, meanwhile, sounds comfortable leaving those decisions to the people paid to make them.

“So I hear the noise, I listen to it, I understand it, but I don’t let it impact my life on or off the court,” he said.

Cleveland has championship ambitions and an expensive roster. Every important player will face scrutiny if the Cavs fall short.

But trading Allen simply because his name keeps appearing in trade suggestions isn’t much of a plan. The Cavs know what they have. Finding something better would be the hard part.