CLEVELAND — The injury Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen suffered in April left him with a reminder about his new perspective on rib issues.

“Looking at the CT scan, you can still see the piece of bone that's still floating in my body somewhere, so it was definitely a worse injury than people thought,” Allen said Monday during Cavs Media Day at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

The fractured rib occurred in late April during the Cavs' first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic and sidelined Allen for the final eight postseason games. The Cavs defeated the Magic in seven games before falling 4-1 to the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Cavs listed the rib problem as a contusion on their injury reports, prompting some fans to clamor for Allen to push through a bruise. It took until after the season for someone from the organization, president of basketball operations Koby Altman, to reveal Allen had a fractured rib.

“I think that definitely contributed to the skepticism of the injury,” Allen said of the contusion label.

Allen had not spoken publicly about the injury until Monday, so his side of the story is fresh. He explained the injury didn't heal until “a full two weeks” after the Cavs were eliminated.

“It was rough. One funny thing that I always laugh at, you never understand how bad a rib injury is until it happens to you,” Allen said. “I was looking at other people [and thinking], 'Oh, it can't be that bad.'

“It finally happened to me. I'm like, 'Oh, damn. This sucks.' I couldn't sleep right. You roll over, you wake up with the pain in the side. It didn't finally go down until two weeks after the season. I tried shuffling [to play defense]. It's just pain for the whole time you try to do anything. So, I mean, now I'm fine. Now I'm fully recovered. It was just a rough couple of months.”

Appearing on the FanDuel NBA show “Run it Back” in May, former Cavs forward Marcus Morris Sr. said he would have played through the same injury Allen had.

“It's understandable,” Allen said of Morris' comments. “Like I said, you don't understand until you go through it.”

After sitting out five games with an ankle injury to begin last season, Allen played in 81 consecutive games until the rib injury shut him down.

“I feel like I'm very sure of myself,” he said. “I feel like I'm very understanding of if I was able to play, I would've play. I played every single game that season that I could, barring injury, and if I could've, I would've.”

Despite whatever internal disagreements existed about whether Allen should have returned to action during the playoffs, the Cavs signed him to a three-year, $91 million contract extension in the summer.

“I truly do genuinely like it here,” Allen said, “and I believe in it here.”

With coach J.B. Bickerstaff fired in May, Allen has reunited with new Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson. As Brooklyn's head coach for three-plus seasons (2016-20), Atkinson guided Allen when the big man played for the Nets.

“I feel like he's always believed in me,” Allen said. “He's always had a faith in me that I can always become a great player. Even when he was my head coach, he's going to say it, but after he left, after he went to the West Coast, he was still keeping in contact with me, praising how well and how far I've come.”

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In the 2023-24 regular season, Allen averaged 16.5 points on 63.4% shooting from the field, 9.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.3 blocked shots. In four playoff games, he averaged 17 points on 67.6% shooting from the floor, 10.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 blocks.

Yet, not reaching the finish line has stuck with Allen.

“It's a big chip on the shoulder,” he said. “I want to prove that I'm still the player that I am, that I'm still going to be out there every single night trying my hardest and making an impact.”

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Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cavs' Jarrett Allen says rib injury was 'worse' than people thought