Cavaliers ‘ethical basketball,’ explained: How Jarrett Allen’s motto set the tone for Cleveland’s historic start

The Cavaliers are out to the best start in franchise history and in the process, have established themselves as legitimate NBA title contenders.

After winning their first 15 games of the season, Cleveland maintained its winning ways and remains on pace to become the third team in NBA history to eclipse the 70-win mark. As for how they’ve been so successful, center Jarrett Allen offered a simple explanation: “We’re just playing Cavs basketball. It’s ethical basketball.”

Allen has one of the more unique personalities in the NBA, so his decision to use the term “ethical” to describe his team’s playstyle quickly made headlines. Rooted in the academic definition of ethics, Allen’s used an apt descriptor for the way he, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Donovan Mitchell have dominated the 2024-25 NBA season.

What exactly is ethical basketball? Here is how Allen described the phenomenon, what his coach has said, and how the concept has been a talking point of basketball fans on social media for some time now.

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Cavaliers ‘ethical basketball,’ explainedSimply put, “ethical basketball” is playing basketball the right way.

While the judgment is largely subjective, the idea of “ethical basketball” largely derives from discussions about players who often leverage their bodies to bait defenders into fouling. Foul drawing is a skill, but fans often complain about the methods by which select players do so.

Rooted in that concept is a larger conversation that covers the full game. In the case of the 2024-25 Cavaliers, the team’s “ethical basketball” is a byproduct of playing the right way through ball movement and putting the concept of team over self. 

Days after his original declaration, Allen described the concept in a way only he could:

“Farm-raised, non-GMO, organic, free-range, ethical basketball,” Allen told FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland reporter Serena Winters when asked for an explanation of what “ethical basketball” actually is.

What IS Cavs basketball? 🤔 #LetEmKnow https://t.co/QHYNjgvZE1 pic.twitter.com/au1qeeuWrz

— FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland (@FanDuelSN_CLE) January 10, 2025He offered the same “farm-raised” explanation to head coach Kenny Atkinson, and while Atkinson should be credited with much of Cleveland’s progression this season, even he can’t fully grasp Allen’s definition.

Humorous as Allen’s brief answer was in the moment, the full scope of his explanation spells out what he means.

When playing “ethical basketball” a team relies on communication, defense, energy, passing, and playmaking. For a Cleveland team with four legitimate All-Star candidates, that means that a different player may need to step up on offense any night, but the controllable pillars should be a constant across the board.

The rest of the league is taking notice. As a clear byproduct of the basketball ethics at play, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said you have to play “close to perfect basketball” to beat the Cavs. Cleveland handily swept the Lakers, 2-0, in their regular-season series.

It’s a new — and ethical — era of basketball in Northeast Ohio. As the Cavaliers continue to pass every metric that measures their status as a contender, they’ll hope that ethics allow them to rewrite the history books.

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