When the Cleveland Cavaliers managed to land Larry Nance Jr. in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers back in 2018, the resultant fanfare was what one would expect for the son of a former franchise star that was born and raised in Ohio. In fact, in the three-plus seasons that he played for the Cavs, Nance was a bonafide fan favorite.
His dunks, his versatility, his approach and mentality. All things, both tangible and intangible, were salivated over by the Cavs faithful.
Unfortunately, the magic came to an end just before the start of the 2022-23 season, with Cleveland trading Nance to the Portland Trail Blazers in a three-team deal that landed them Lauri Markkanen. As Markkanen would be traded to the Utah Jazz just a year later as part of a package that brought the Cavs a perennial All-Star candidate in Donovan Mitchell, all is well that ends well.
Nonetheless, it was a bitter pill to swallow for Cavs fans.
It was presumably one for Nance as well, though it may have been closer to bittersweet, based on recent comments that he made on the Wine and Gold Talk podcast.
“It had gone from me really enjoying playing the Larry Nance Jr. thing, in my dad’s footsteps,” Nance says while admitting his desire to depart from Cleveland, “… and at a certain point it became a little redundant.”
“I still loved being in Cleveland, still loved having my family around and loved playing for the Cavs,” he continues, “but I needed to step away from all this and go play on a playoff team and really go show what I’ve got.”