Cavs’ Kevin Porter Jr.-Larry Nance Jr. duo is cleared for takeoff

The Kevin Porter Jr.-Larry Nance Jr. duo is cleared for takeoff for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Two of the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ most important pieces in coming years will be current reserves Kevin Porter Jr. and Larry Nance Jr. I would expect Cleveland’s young backcourt of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton to be in that mold as well, though, whether or not Sexton keeps playing a starting role.

Anyhow, regardless of how the next week or so plays out, I’d forecast the Porter-Nance duo to be cleared for takeoff, if you will.

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February 6 at 3 p.m. ET is the NBA trade deadline, and given how Kevin Love reportedly prefers to be traded and how Tristan Thompson could be dealt as an expiring piece, both according to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Nance and Porter could have more playmaking and scoring chances with Cleveland in need of it, sans Love, in particular.

Let’s also factor in that Porter and Nance should have more and more opportunities going forward with the Cavaliers rebuilding anyway, and with both already being big contributors off the bench for Cleveland head coach John Beilein and company.

Moreover, the chemistry between the Porter-Nance duo has seemed to have gotten better as the 2019-20 season has progressed, similarly to that of Porter and Darius Garland, as Garland has played meaningful minutes with reserves a bunch, too.

In Cleveland’s last two games, of which Porter returned from a reported left knee sprain which sidelined him for nearly three weeks, the rookie wing has given the Cavaliers much-needed energy at the Detroit Pistons in a win on Monday and at home in a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Porter did reportedly sprain his right ankle at Detroit, for reference, but the 19-year-old appears to be just fine.

At any rate, since being sidelined for six games earlier this month due to reported left knee soreness, Nance has again shown why he’s one of Cleveland’s most important players currently in relief of Love and/or Thompson to some extent and projecting into coming years.

In the last eight games for Cleveland, essentially since returning from that absence, Nance has averaged 12.0 points on a team-leading 66.9 percent effective field goal shooting clip, as noted by NBA.com. He’s shooting the ball with a ton of confidence, and similarly to last season as of late, Nance has provided a considerable playmaking lift.

In this eight-game span, Nance has averaged 3.3 assists per outing. Only Garland and Sexton have averaged more, as indicated by NBA.com.

In the last two games, though, Nance has had Porter back as one of his go-to passing targets, in both settled offense and in the transition game.

In Tuesday’s matchup in which Nance paid tribute to his former teammate in the late Kobe Bryant by starting the contest with his jersey number as 24 on (as shown by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who also paid tribute to Kobe throughout the game), Nance was the best player for Cleveland, I’d say. Nance had 17 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals, as referenced by ESPN.

In addition, these kinds of screen assists involving Porter as the ball-handler will likely happen more and more the rest of the 2019-20 season and in coming years.

Though he will turn it over as a young player at times, Porter has shown he’s more than capable of getting pocket passes into Nance as a roller or where Nance can rise into a mid-range shot that he’s shown plenty of improvement at hitting.

You could see the budding chemistry between Porter and Nance in that regard on Tuesday, and again, Nance has shown he has good timing when hitting Porter going into a hop with a natural quick pass or handoff.

Plus, on the season, Porter, who had 21 points, two assists and a steal on Tuesday and shot five-of-eight from deep, is shooting 41.2% on catch-and-shoot three-pointers, according to NBA.com’s player shot tracking data.

Furthermore, with the way the Cleveland Cavaliers could feasibly move Love and Thompson by the trade deadline, or in Love’s case, this offseason, considering he has three years and $91.5 million on his contract following 2019-20, I’d expect Nance and KPJ’s role to increase as scoring/playmaking options.

That’s whether or not one and/or both eventually become starters for Cleveland, and the chemistry of the Nance-Porter duo is only going to get better.

In Nance’s case, only Jordan Clarkson, who Cleveland reportedly traded to the Utah Jazz last month in exchange for Dante Exum and two future second-round picks, has had more assists to Nance this season than Porter, per NBA.com’s player tracking data.

Now again, a key caveat to that is the fact that Porter missed 10 games earlier this month with his left knee sprain; additionally, Nance has played almost of his NBA career with Clarkson dating back to their Los Angeles Lakers’ days.

On the opposite end of the spectrum in relation to Porter as a scorer on assisted field goals, only again, Clarkson, has assisted Porter more than Nance, per NBA.com’s player tracking data, and one can’t discount both Nance and Porter missing time.

So again, this Porter-Nance duo, when projecting how the rest of this 2019-20 season plays out with Beilein’s rotation post-trade deadline and looking into coming years, is cleared for takeoff.

It will be a really fun duo to watch for Cavs fans, too, and let’s not undersell how both Nance and Porter will likely be two of Cleveland’s best defenders that also have gotten their fair share of deflections throughout games, which has led to run-outs that have enabled both of them to showcase their passing vision, finishing ability and extreme athleticism.