CLEVELAND — Editor's note: the video in the player above is from a previous story.
Cleveland will have not one, but two, representatives when it hosts the NBA All-Star Game this weekend. On Monday, the league announced that Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen will be an injury replacement for the game, joining Cavs teammate Darius Garland on Team LeBron.
Fittingly, Allen's first career All-Star Game selection comes as a replacement for now-Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden, who will miss the game due to a nagging hamstring injury. Allen arrived in Cleveland last January as a part of the trade that sent Harden from the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets.
Now in his second season with the Cavs, the 6-foot-11 Allen has enjoyed a breakout campaign, averaging career highs of 16.2 points and 11.1 rebounds. He has also served as one of the key cogs in a Cleveland defense that currently ranks third in the NBA and first in the Eastern Conference in defensive rating.
After Allen wasn't initially selected as an All-Star reserve, both Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff and his teammates publicly stated that they believed the 23-year-old had been snubbed. For his part, the Texas product responded by scoring a career-high 29 points and grabbing 22 rebounds in Cleveland's 102-101 win over the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 4.
The 2022 NBA All-Star Game will take place at Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Sunday, Feb. 20. On Saturday, Allen will join Garland and Cavs rookie Evan Mobley as a part of the league's annual Skills Challenge during NBA All-Star Saturday Night.