CLEVELAND, Ohio — When Kenny Atkinson was introduced as the Cavs’ head coach in 2024, the question followed him to the podium before he could even settle into the seat.
Could two non-shooting bigs share the floor in a league obsessed with space?
Could Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley coexist in high-leverage moments? Could Cleveland survive offensively when both occupied the paint?
Atkinson never dismissed the concern. He simply went to work on it.
“The league is changing fast. It’s a faster league, there’s no doubt about it. I will say our kind of unique situation here, we’ve got two bigs that are fast,” Atkinson said then. “I will say my experience in Golden State, I think it’s going to really help. We played Draymond [Green] and [Kevon] Looney together a lot. We won a lot of series like that.
“Knowing how to use those two is going to be important because we want to keep that defensive identity. We want to keep that base. That’s so important. Part of my job is going to figure out how we can get those guys, that group with the two bigs, to be more efficient offensively.”
Over time, he staggered their minutes to create more dynamic combinations. He leaned into Mobley’s playmaking growth. He empowered Allen as a vertical spacer, a screener with bruising intent and a finisher who doesn’t need the ball to impact a possession. The results have been tangible.
During the 2024-25 season, the Allen-Mobley tandem posted a plus-12.2 net rating per 100 possessions across 1,034 minutes together. This season, that number sits at plus-6.5 in 462 minutes. The raw figure is lower, but the pairing remains productive and, more importantly, more adaptable.
Individually, Allen has ticked upward. His offensive rating is 2.2 points per 100 possessions better than the pairing’s. Last season, the boost was 1.1.
And when Mobley hasn’t been on the floor — 13 games missed because of two left calf strains — something else has surfaced.
Space. Responsibility. Ownership.
Allen has been operating with more room to carve angles in the lane, more touches on short rolls, more freedom to impose himself without instinctively deferring. Over the last seven games with Mobley sidelined, Allen owns the second-best net rating on the Cavaliers among players who appeared in all seven contests: plus-13.5 per 100 possessions, trailing only Sam Merrill (22).
In that stretch, Allen is averaging 21.6 points per game, second on the team only to Donovan Mitchell (25.9), along with 10.9 rebounds in 27.7 minutes. Cleveland is 6-1.
“I’ve seen a new person. I’d love to know when the change [happened]. He’s just completely different from the beginning of the year,” Atkinson said. “There was a stretch when he hurt his finger, and I don’t know, this is my theory, his two fingers, he couldn’t play, obviously, and he just went on this mad conditioning kind of with [Derek Millender], our strength guy. And I don’t know, did he get in better shape and that kind of propelled him? Because he struggled right after that, but he’s seemed to take off. I think Evan being out, obviously he’s taken more and more responsibility. But this might be the best Jarrett Allen I’ve seen since I’ve been here. Really impressive what he’s doing on both ends.
“Maybe it coincides with the Evan absence, but he’s been incredible. Even tonight, he saved us defensively, I don’t know, 5, 6, 7 times,” Atkinson added after the Cavs’ latest win over the Wizards. “He was at the rim. And then his finishing, obviously another 8-for-8 night. Said the guys are calling him Wilt in the locker room. You can’t get more respect than that.”
That is a head coach openly admitting he might have underestimated how much offensive engagement fuels Allen’s defensive dominance.
On a recent road trip, Atkinson acknowledged that putting into practice what he had been preaching — involving the bigs, rewarding the rim runs, even calling an ATO specifically for Allen for the first time this season — revealed his importance to a new level.
When Allen feels seen offensively, the defense tightens.
The rotations sharpen. The contests multiply. The voice at the back line grows louder.
He stops being just the anchor and starts becoming the current.
Now add James Harden to the equation.
Allen is Cleveland’s most forceful screener and most reliable vertical threat. Harden is one of the most decorated pick-and-roll operators the game has seen.
“We’re a darn good pick-and-roll team as is, and now you add one of the greatest ever,” Atkinson said about Harden. “I hope it just elevates it even more. I’m not sure where we’re ranked, I’m sure we’re ranked pretty high, but he changes the equation. I think that’s what we’re excited [about] too. He’ll elevate our bigs. He makes others better.
“When you watch his film, what really stands out is the passing. I know everybody talks about iso and pick-and-roll, but he’s a great, great passer. I can’t wait to see how he interacts with our two talented bigs.”
For Allen, that interaction could be transformational.
A downhill guard who commands two defenders forces taggers to commit early. A committed tagger opens a lob window or a dump-off pass. A missed rotation becomes a dunk.
Even when Allen facilitates at the elbow with Harden drawing defenders, he won’t be swarmed and forced to make a split-second decision. The added time to read the defense and the positioning of his teammates will only grow his confidence and allow him to make the correct reads for the best shots.
The final 27 games of the regular season are about reinforcement. Allen needs reps as the finisher in closing lineups. He needs possessions where the ball finds him after timeouts. He needs proof that when the lights rise, his role does not shrink. Earning a top-two seed in the Eastern Conference would be a bonus along the way.
Because the postseason will test him again.
Two springs ago, in the opening round against the Orlando Magic, before suffering a pierced rib that ended his postseason, Allen was one of Cleveland’s most impactful players against a physically imposing opponent. The blueprint for this year’s Eastern gauntlet looks similar.
The Boston Celtics bring size and scoring versatility with newly added Nikola Vucevic protecting the interior. The Detroit Pistons counter with force at the rim as Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart are known for imposing their will. The New York Knicks lean into physicality and rebounding, with Mitchell Robinson being the same player who nearly single-handedly bounced Cleveland from the playoffs in 2023.
Names like Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham and Jaylen Brown headline the perimeter threats. Conversations about Cleveland’s X-factor often pivot to Dean Wade’s defensive versatility or Jaylon Tyson’s wing strength. That logic holds weight in a conference stocked with oversized creators.
But Allen lingers in the background of that discussion. It’s not the first time.
If Atkinson keeps him involved offensively. If Harden unlocks this version of Allen even when Mobley returns. If Allen embraces the responsibility that has surfaced during Mobley’s absence instead of retreating when rotations tighten.
Then closing time changes.
Allen won’t be on the floor simply because the Cavaliers need a rim protector to guard a late lead. He’ll be there because the offense demands his screening gravity. Because the lob threat bends coverage. Because his presence is additive on both ends.
The final 27 games are an audition for belief, his own and everyone else’s.
If this truly is the best Allen Atkinson has seen, from a coach who was with him dating back to his rookie season in Brooklyn, then the Cavaliers’ ceiling might hinge less on who guards the wings and more on whether their center understands that he is no longer a complementary piece.
And if that realization crystallizes before the lights get brighter, Cleveland’s X-factor may not be hiding at all.