Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 players who could benefit from Love time out

Larry Nance Jr.

The Cavaliers are going to play Larry Nance Jr. a whole lot, whether or not Love is in the lineup. With Love potentially missing more than a month, though, the time is now for Nance to keep demonstrating his whole arsenal that we’ve seen flashes of.

After Nance missed the first two games of the season due to a reported ankle injury, he’s come in and played well. The fourth-year professional has averaged 9.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 20.8 minutes per game in five contests this year.

He’s been one of the more consistent defenders on the team since he came over at last year’s trade deadline, and realistically, will have an expanded role in the near future. Nance reportedly signed a four-year, $44.8 million contract extension this month, and in his game play this season thus far, he’s shown that is a good investment.

In Nance’s game against the Indiana Pacers, he was initiating things in the half-court offense really well via dribble hand-offs, mid-post passes to cutters and showed his ever-improving ability as a roller. He had 15 points, 12 rebounds and four assists in that one against a tough Indy defense.

With Love on the shelf, and especially with the second unit struggling to score, Nance will need to keep shooting mid-range shots as a roller. If those spot-ups, those are good shots for him to take; his chemistry with Jordan Clarkson is also something that can be a staple for Cleveland this season when the offense needs a counter to Collin Sexton’s playmaking.

The next player who benefits from Love’s absence has to be one of Cleveland’s project bigs.