Cavs’ Cedi Osman, Larry Nance Jr. donating to help Turkey earthquake victims highlights their character

After hearing about how there was an earthquake that wreaked havoc in Turkey, Cleveland Cavaliers wing Cedi Osman’s home country, Osman wanted to help. Cleveland big Larry Nance Jr. joined Osman in donating to help victims, too, and that sort of thing highlights how both are of the highest character.

Cleveland Cavaliers wing Cedi Osman and big man Larry Nance Jr. are both important pieces for the Wine and Gold, and the team knows that. Before the 2018-19 season, Nance reportedly signed a four-year, $44.8 million contract extension, and right at the beginning of this 2019-20 season, Osman and the team reportedly agreed on a four-year, $30.8 million contract extension.

They are likely going to be key players in the Cavs’ rotation in coming years, and both fit what the Cavs seem to be looking for from a work ethic standpoint, and Osman and Nance are exemplary teammates that always seem to project the right body language.

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For a team like the Cavaliers, who are still in the early stages of a long rebuild and are just 12-34, and have really been struggling as losers of seven straight, it’s at least good to have pieces like Osman and Nance from a locker room standpoint.

Both players have done pretty well in 2019-20 overall in their roles, too.

Osman, though his usage has been down as compared to 2018-19 with more capable players around him, such as Kevin Love being involved in most instances, along with Darius Garland, has averaged 11.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, and Cedi’s shot 39.4% from three-point range on 4.8 attempts per outing, according to NBA.com.

Osman’s improved as an off-ball defender, too, and is second on Cleveland with 0.9 steals per outing.

Nance has been very solid as well as the Cleveland Cavaliers’ key reserve big, and has put up 8.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.8 steals per game, as noted by NBA.com.

Anyhow, though the Cavs had all kinds of trouble yet again in their last outing on Saturday against the Chicago Bulls when 21 turnovers and a disastrous third quarter killed Cleveland, it was at least good to hear that Osman and Nance were going to donate amounts based on game results to help earthquake victims in Osman’s home country of Turkey.

Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor had more to add in regards to the devastation caused by that, and even with Osman not being from right there in the affected area, Cedi wanted to help.

"“At least 29 people are dead and more than 1,400 are injured in eastern Turkey after a 6.7-magnitude earthquake rattled his home country. The quake hit near the town of Sivrice, which Osman estimates is about a 90-minute flight or a six-to-seven hour drive from his home, where he typically spends a few months of his summer before national team responsibilities begin.”"

Wanting to help spread awareness to aid victims, Osman tweeted out on Saturday that he was going to donate $100 for every three-pointer made in Cleveland’s game versus the Bulls, accounting for both the Cavs and Bulls’ makes.

The Bulls, for reference, ending up making 12, and Cleveland made 13 triples, whereas Cedi knocked in two and Nance had one in the Cavs’ 118-106 loss, as noted by ESPN.

Anyway, after finding out about Osman’s efforts to help earthquake victims, Nance wanted to join in in a big way, too. As Fedor hit on, Nance suggested that Cedi up the donations to $200 for every triple made, of which Osman was then right on-board with, and with the teams hitting 25 in the game, the two Cavs will donate $10,000.

Factoring in the total contributions raised by Osman’s efforts, along with Nance’s help and other contributions from Turkish athletes that were right on board with aiding Cedi, as Fedor noted, “Osman estimates about $60,000 raised for the disaster’s victims in about 12 hours.”

One can gather that from Osman’s tweet about it later on following the game, and again, what sticks out to me from this is that Nance and Osman are truly of the highest character.

Though Osman did not really know anyone directly impacted by the earthquake, with it happening in Turkey’s “eastern Elazig province,” as Fedor noted, Osman wanted to do what he could and “use his platform to make a difference.”

Moreover, Nance and Osman project as two key pieces for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ future, and this sort of gesture shows that they are of the highest character.

I’d expect both of those two to keep helping youngsters such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Kevin Porter Jr. (who is currently sidelined with a reported left knee sprain, though) in their development in coming years, and we could see Osman and Nance’s roles increase, too.

That’s even more so the case with Kevin Love reportedly preferring to be traded by Cleveland (though he hasn’t formally demanded a trade), and with the expiring Tristan Thompson also potentially being moved by the February 6 trade deadline.

Anyhow, it was great to see Osman and Nance do their part to aid in earthquake relief efforts, even if given, the time of year, they can’t physically be there currently. I’m such a big fan of both players on and off the floor, and this sort of thing makes that the case more and more.