The Cleveland Cavaliers’ injury report seems to be ever-growing this season, and Larry Nance Jr. is a player they cannot rush back in a season where wins don’t mean much.
In the Cleveland Cavaliers’ loss last night to the Indiana Pacers, Larry Nance Jr. reportedly suffered a right knee injury, and didn’t return to the game, per Cavs.com’s Joe Gabriele. Now, we know, injuries happen to every NBA team; that’s bound to happen in a grueling 82-game season. Just ask Kevin Love. With a team like the Cavs that is now in a full-rebuild, they can’t rush a player like Nance back, and should let him get fully healthy before having him return to action.
It’s not as if Nance is going to be missing a ton of games, as according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, his “right knee injury isn’t believed to be serious.”
More from Opinion
- Regrading the Donovan Mitchell-Lauri Markkanen trade
- Seat Index: Rating the 9 NBA head coaches in danger of being fired
- What would a successful 2023-24 look like for Cavaliers’ Ty Jerome?
- A crucial year in The Land: 3 bold predictions for the Cavs this season
- How many teams from the Cavs’ Central Division will make the playoffs?
Nonetheless, this team has Nance locked up for the near future, so rushing him back out onto the floor playing a physical brand of ball in the frontcourt isn’t a huge priority right now.
Yes, Tristan Thompson and the Cavs need help in the frontcourt.
That’s clear as day, as Cleveland continually struggles defending in the paint and securing extra possessions is paramount for them being able to stay in games.
Nance is going to be with Cleveland for the foreseeable future, as he’s signed through the 2022-23 season, per Spotrac.
Given that and with the way the Cavs season has transpired, putting a ton of stock into their upcoming six-game road trip shouldn’t be the case.
Nance has played well this year in Cleveland, as he’s averaged 8.8 points on 58.8 percent true shooting and 7.5 rebounds per game. He also leads qualified Cleveland Cavaliers (based on minutes and games played) in assists with 3.2 per game, per NBA.com.
He seems to be stepping up as another leader on the team as well, which has been great to see.
Taking all those positives into consideration, the Cavs have to be forward-thinking in a situation like this. They aren’t going to be winning many games as it is the rest of the way, so play the now-healthier Ante Zizic (who returned from missing four games due to reported knee soreness) some considerable minutes, and if you have to give Nance less minutes for a few games, do that.
The Cleveland Cavaliers can’t afford to have a key player like Nance risk having more serious injuries in the coming years by overworking him in a season where the team is the worst in the NBA.