Contenders ‘will call’ about Cavs’ Larry Nance Jr., but he definitely shouldn’t be dealt

Larry Nance Jr. has continually improved over the past few years with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He’s been realistically the Cavs’ best all-around bench player in the past two seasons, and him taking a step further with his spot-up three-point shooting by hitting 35.2 percent from there last season was another positive sign.

In 2019-20, he again proved to be one of Cleveland’s best defensive players as well, and overall, had 10.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals in 26.3 minutes per contest.

And leading into the league’s prior novel coronavirus-induced hiatus/ultimately the end of last season for the Cavs, he even showed some viability to even play the 3 position. That’s been the case a bit for the Cavaliers this season to this point for head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who took over in that role post-All-Star break last season, too.

In regards to this season with Nance, he’s been in a starting 4 role mostly, and was intended to be featured at the 3 against the Philadelphia 76ers more so. And perhaps we’ll see him at the 3 at times again as the season progresses.

With Nance, though, he’s been Cleveland’s starting 4 nearly every outing to this point due to Kevin Love being sidelined because of a right calf strain he initially suffered in preseason and reaggravated in that Philly game. He could seemingly be back by the end of this month.

Nance has done a solid job in the interim, however, and while he did have struggles for a good bit as a catch-and-shoot player, he’s rebounded well, by and large. On the season currently, Nance has hit 42.9 percent of his 3.7 three-point attempts per game, and that’s because of him hitting 53.1 percent of his deep attempts in his past eight outings.

Nance has done an admirable job as a playmaker, too, as evidenced by him being fourth currently on Cleveland in assists per contest at 3.7 per game.

And defensively, he’s really been a huge impact player, which has aided Cleveland’s second-ranked defense in a big way. He’s first in the league in steals to this point and is leading the NBA in deflections as well with 71, per NBA.com’s player hustle data.

Needless to say, even when Love is back in the fold, with the number of ways he’s made things happen for Cleveland, I’d firmly expect Nance to continue to be a major contributor. That’s also with how he can fit in a plethora of different lineups/with a variety of players.

Nonetheless, with Nance being on a fairly team-friendly deal, looking at the general sense, and with how he impacts winning, he’d naturally seem to be a player contending teams could potentially contact the Cavs about near the March 25 trade deadline.

And per ESPN’s Zach Lowe (subscription required), contending teams reportedly “will call” the Cavs about Nance, seemingly near the deadline, I’d think. Albeit Lowe did state how he kind of hopes the Cavs “keep him.”

I get that for contenders, but the Cavs should definitely not trade Jr.

I’m not discounting Lowe here, and based on recent reports and that Cleveland essentially traded most notably their 2022 first-rounder via the Milwaukee Bucks, they’ll almost certainly lock up Jarrett Allen this offseason. Allen’s set to be a restricted free agent, and if a potential offer sheet needs to be matched for his services, the Cavs will match it, one would assume.

Anyhow, when it comes to Nance, he’s set to be on the books for $11.7 million this season, and is declining for the two years remaining he’s signed after that at $10.7 million and $9.7 million. That to me, is all the more reason to keep him around, though.

Whether or not he’s potentially Cleveland’s long-term starting 4, factoring in that the Kevin Love trade rumors are always seemingly around, and I’d imagine that Cleveland could feasibly look to move Love this coming offseason, Nance is a very good piece to have.

Nance is Cleveland’s best all-around big, he’s continued to make strides with his catch-and-shoot viability, and has been red hot lately, is one of the club’s best passers (not to knock Love there), and he’s invaluable defensively.

Even when Love is back in the fold for the Cavs, in the short-term and whether or not Love is eventually moved, Nance should be playing big minutes, and could very well be a crucial factor in closing lineups, anyway. I’d expect him to fit in well with Allen, too, as a 4-5 combination for stretches, too, for what it’s worth.

And lastly, with Nance being such a model teammate, and being essentially a Cleveland native (Akron) and the history involving his dad, Larry Nance, being a Cavs legend, and Jr. being so bought-in with the Cavs, he definitely shouldn’t be traded.

In that realm, one would imagine Andre Drummond very well could be dealt by the deadline, based on reports in the aforementioned link above from the likes of Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor and HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, and/or JaVale McGee. In the 32-year-old McGee’s case, Sam Amico of OutKick and Forty Eight Minutes reported how the Nets, who have two open roster spots, are expected to “make a run” at McGee, who is set to make $4.2 million this season.

Swinging back to Nance, though, conversely, he’s a guy that looks to be a key core piece, and even at 28, should be more than fine as fitting in with younger guys such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro looking onward.

Nance appears to be a budding leader, too, and should be around for years to come; few are more Cleveland than Jr., to drive that home.

It doesn’t seem as though the Cavaliers are at all looking to move Nance themselves, either, but considering Lowe’s comments, he’ll seemingly have his suitors.

To reiterate, though, the Cavs shouldn’t be looking to move Jr. any time soon.