On the NBA’s February 8th trade deadline, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye, and a future first-round pick for Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson. For Nance Jr., the Cavs are a familiar team. His dad, Larry Nance Sr., played for the Cavs from 1988-1994. He made the All-Star team two times while a member of the Cavaliers and his jersey was retired by Cleveland in honor of his career’s work.
After the trade, general manager Koby Altman stated that Nance Jr. was borderline in tears, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
“How cool is it for him to come home? The kid was in borderline tears when I called him today,” Altman said during a conference call to recap his watershed moment as GM. “He’s ecstatic to be a part of it.”
After hearing these comments, Nance Jr. was quick to declare that Altman’s statement was untrue. According to Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com, Nance Jr. stated that he was excited but wasn’t on the verge of crying by any means.
“I gave him a hard time for that because that’s not true,” Nance said after his first Cavs practice on Saturday. “I was excited, absolutely. I was super excited. We had a good conversation. He could tell I was excited, he was excited about bringing me here. This is home. There was a little bit of extra emotion, but not teary. I’m more of a man than that.”
It appears that Nance Jr. and Altman are just poking fun at each other. Now that Nance Jr. is a member of the Cavs, hopefully, he can follow in his father’s footsteps.