During an appearance on The Hoop Collective podcast, Larry Nance Jr. revealed that other teams around the league were interested in signing him in free agency, but he decided to join the Cleveland Cavaliers:
“I was hearing from just a bunch of my friends in the league, like, ‘Hey, what’s going on? We could use somebody like you.’ Stuff like that. But for me, it was just a multifaceted decision, Nance said. “Obviously, my wife and I have two kids, four and one. We ideally would have wanted to raise them kind of on the East, near my parents… And then role comes into play.
“It was hard not to watch the past few years of the Cavs being in the playoffs, being a Cavs fan. I’ve said it time and time again, when I’m on different teams, I would love the Cavs to go 80-2. Just lose to the team I’m playing for at the time. So, watching the past few years of the Cavs in the playoffs, it was hard not to kind of look at what I do and go, ‘Man, it seems like a pretty good puzzle-piece fit here,’ and it’s felt that way since I’ve got here.”
How can Larry Nance Jr. help the Cavs?
At this point in his career, Nance likely isn’t fit to be a heavy-minute player. He’s never played 70 games in a single season throughout his entire career, and over the course of the last two years, Nance hasn’t cracked the 20-minute-per-game mark.
In fact, injuries held Nance back for most of last year. He only appeared in 24 games for the Atlanta Hawks. However, his skill set is undoubtedly useful for a team like the Cavs.
Cleveland doesn’t have great big-man depth, despite how stacked they are at that position in their starting lineup. Behind the lethal one-two punch of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, the rest of the Cavs’ big men are less than proven.
As their roster stands, Nance is the only other big man on the roster, which will give him a real chance to show off his abilities on the court this season.
When he managed to stay on the court last season, Nance was solid, giving the Hawks decent defense and three-point shooting. He averaged 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists while shooting 51.6% from the field and 44.7% from behind the three-point line.
Though he’s a bit undersized (6-foot-8) to play the five, he’s been running in these types of lineups for his entire career. And if paired next to Mobley or Allen on the court, his size wouldn’t matter that much.
Needless to say, Nance should be a great fit in Cleveland. They know it, and he knows it.