There were no wasted tears in the Nance household when the news of LeBron James heading to the Los Angeles Lakers first broke. For Cleveland Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr., it was all about seeing the silver lining.
It’s not that Nance was happy to see James go. After all, losing arguably the best player of his generation is a blow that no team can recover from easily. However, for Nance, it was an opportunity to prove his worth to a team and a city in dire need of a new identity.
“Got the Woj alert,” Larry Nance said, per Dave McMenamin and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “We knew it was either one or two places [he would go to]. So I wasn’t, like, shocked. I didn’t break down crying. I kind of just got excited to prove myself, get a chance to step up a little bit and prove that this team is capable more than people think it is.”
Entering the fourth year of his young career, Nance is looking like a prime breakout candidate this season. Prior to being traded by the Lakers, the undersized big man exhibited some flashes of brilliance. He carried over his momentum to Cleveland for the second half of the season, rounding out his season averages to 8.7 points on 58.1% shooting, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.6 blocks per contest.
Nance is the projected starting power forward for the Cavs in the upcoming season, and a heavy minutes load is looking very likely. He will definitely have the opportunity to prove himself to the Cleveland faithful.