Larry Nance Jr., who was sent to the Cleveland Cavaliers midway through the season, reflected on his time with the Los Angeles Lakers, saying that the two teams both had the similar type of hype, mainly because of Cavs superstar LeBron James.
As reported by Colton Jones of Amico Hoops, Nance Jr. compared the two teams, citing the different circumstances that each team has:
“It’s definitely new, yeah,” Nance said after practice Sunday of the heat, intensity and focus that come with playing with James. “Obviously, being in LA [with the Lakers], we had a lot of media around us with different circumstances, but here, this is brand new, this is something completely different.”
He confessed that he needed some time to adjust:
“You can’t turn on SportsCenter or ESPN without hearing, ‘Cavs this, Cavs that,’ so it’s definitely taken some adjusting. But yeah, I think I’m there now.”
Nance Jr. is one of the few players who played alongside both James and Kobe Bryant — arguably one of the greatest players in history. Nance Jr. is pretty much aware of this. In his time with Lakers, he executed several two-man plays with Bryant and now with the James, he is doing the same. And he is not taking these things for granted:
“It’s, ‘Come on.’ It’s hard not to. In the moment, no, it’s just like catch, finish,” Nance said. “But yeah, I’m sure at one point, I’ll look back at that like being able to catch a lob from Kobe [Bryant], or something like that.”
“It’s definitely something that I’ll keep in my memory bin.”