Many people have questioned the mental and physical toughness of the Cleveland Cavaliers following their exit from the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and it’s easy to see why. The Cavaliers were the best team in the Eastern Conference from start to finish during the 2024-25 regular season, yet they were knocked out by the Indiana Pacers in five games in the second round and lost all three of their home games in the series.
One Cavaliers player who hasn’t been spared from negative assertions about his toughness is big man Jarrett Allen. Allen saved maybe his worst basketball of these playoffs for when the Cavaliers needed him to step up most, as in Games 4 and 5 of the Pacers series, he totaled just 11 points and six rebounds combined.
Former Cavaliers big man Channing Frye is one person who’s questioned Allen’s toughness lately, and he pointed out that when Allen’s teammate De’Andre Hunter and Pacers wing Bennedict Mathurin were involved in an altercation in Game 4, Allen wasn’t quick to react or protect his teammate.
But some X users suggested that Frye shouldn’t question Allen’s toughness because he wasn’t tough enough himself, which Frye fired back at.
Channing Frye talking about toughness?
— DT (@toth18798) May 22, 2025
I was the best shooter in the league… i also went to the western Conference finals before going to the Cavs. Every NBA center shoots 3s now when I did it 15 years ago but I’m soft cause I could guard FUCkInG SHAQ and Yao at the center position…. gTFOH https://t.co/YCB94L45pt
— Channing Frye (@channingfrye) May 23, 2025
There isn’t highly concrete evidence that Frye was ever the best shooter in the league at any point in his NBA career, but it is true that he had some strong seasons before he ever played for the Cavaliers, and he was tasked with some tough matchups on defense during his playing days.
To his credit on the shooting claim, he was a very good shooter for his position and had one season where he made 43.9 percent of his 3s. He also had some postseasons with the Cavs where he was lethal from deep. Still, his claim will be contested.
Top 5. https://t.co/d248PhaE5M
— Channing Frye (@channingfrye) May 23, 2025
2010 i was the best shooter in the league. https://t.co/n0PEpM7Xn9 pic.twitter.com/qgXFIYbTkP
— Channing Frye (@channingfrye) May 23, 2025
Allen has consistently been one of the Cavaliers’ best regular-season players for a while now, but his playoff track record has become questionable.
Before he made very little impact in the final two games of Cleveland’s second-round series in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, injury woes limited him to just four appearances in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. He was also somewhat inconsistent in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
Allen may see himself in trade rumors this summer, but it would no surprise at all if the Cavs decided to return with the same core group next season.