It’s hard to find a better duo than the Cleveland Cavaliers and a member of the Nance family.
One earned two All-Star selections during his time in Cleveland and has his jersey hung in the rafters of Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Another spent nearly four seasons with the Cavaliers, earning averages of 9.5 points and 7.5 rebounds as he played in 182 games and started in 77 during the team’s rebuilding years.
It’d be difficult to argue against adding a third.
The Cavs signed former North Carolina forward Pete Nance, the son of former Cavs forward Larry Nance Sr., to an Exhibit 10 contract, according to a Saturday article from Cleveland.com Cavs reporter Chris Fedor.
“Sources tell cleveland.com that the organization has signed Pete Nance — son of franchise legend Larry Nance Sr. and younger brother of Larry Nance Jr. — to an exhibit 10 contract,” Fedor wrote. “A 6-foot-10 forward who went undrafted Thursday night, Nance will be with the Cavs at summer league and training camp.”
What can the newly signed forward bring to the Cavaliers or the Cleveland Charge?
The Basics
Pete Nance is a 6-foot-11-inch forward from Akron, Ohio.
Nance, a former four-star recruit from Revere High School in Richfield, Ohio, initially committed to Northwestern’s 2018 class over offers from Michigan, Akron, Clemson, Cleveland State, Ohio State, Purdue, Toledo and West Virginia, among others, according to 247Sports. He joined a Wildcats recruiting class that took 33rd place nationwide and featured three other enrollees.
Nance would spend four years in Evanston, earning averages of 9.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in 107 games played and 74 starts. He scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished eight assists when Northwestern took a 71-69 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the first round of the 2022 Big Ten Tournament. The Wildcats would go on to fall in a 112-76 loss to Iowa in the second round of that year’s tournament.
Nance would transfer to North Carolina in 2022, where he would average 10 points, six rebounds and 1.7 assists per game in 30 starts and games played. The Tar Heels would make it to the ACC tournament quarterfinals before taking a 68-59 loss to Virginia.
“Exhibit 10” contracts, which were first introduced in the NBA’s 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement, are one-year, minimum contracts that can be converted into two-way contracts before the start of the NBA regular season, according to Sporting News. NBA teams are allotted six Exhibit 10 contracts.
Only teams with G League affiliates are allowed to sign Exhibit 10 deals, according to a Friday article from WFAA Digital Content Producer Paul Livengood. The Cavs purchased the Cleveland Charge, formerly the New Mexico Thunderbirds, and relocated them to Canton in 2011. They were moved from Canton to Cleveland in 2021. The Charge earned a record of 18-14 last season, taking the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference ahead of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Windy City Bulls and Lakeland Magic.
The Milwaukee Bucks signed Gonzaga forward Drew Timme to an Exhibit 10 contract after he went undrafted in Thursday’s draft. Timme played for four seasons with the Bulldogs, earning West Coast Conference Player of the Year selections in 2022 and 2023.
The Fit
It’s hard not to root for a hometown hero.
But it’s hard to see how Nance will be able to break the rotation should the Cavs choose to keep him aboard.
Forwards Evan Mobley and Dean Wade will be under contract for the Cavaliers in the 2023-24 season, according to sports contracts and salaries website Spotrac. Center Jarrett Allen, who took a starting spot in 68 games for the Cavs last year, will also be under contract for them.
Nance could take a spot on the Charge, who went to the NBA G League Eastern Conference Semifinals last season before falling to the Long Island Nets in a 111-107 loss in Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Nance’s size can make him an excellent addition to a Charge roster that featured a 6-foot-8-inch Isaiah Mobley, a 6-foot-9-inch Mamadi Diakite and a 6-foot-7-inch Gabe Osabuohien. Cleveland finished the 2022-23 regular season with an average of 42.7 rebounds per game, putting them at 26th in the NBA G League behind the Grand Rapids Gold, the Mexico City Capitanes and the Westchester Knicks.
Nance could be an experienced option for a team that already had plenty of consistent players last season. Guard Sharife Cooper, who played for the College Park Skyhawks in the 2021-22 season, scored 21.3 points per game in 25 games played during the 2022-23 regular season. Cooper earned a spot on the All-G League Second Team, while Mobley made the All-G League Third Team.
“Sharife was so coachable throughout the year,” Charge head coach Mike Gerrity said, via Fear The Sword. “He was so responsive to those things. When I would point things out in a film session or when I would say something during the game because he knew it was coming from a place of wanting him to get better. Sharife fully bought into that.”
If the Charge were to bring in forward Emoni Bates consistently play guard Craig Porter Jr., who signed a two-way contract with the Cavs on Friday, Gerrity could have plenty of talented options to call upon once the G League’s season starts in November.
