INDEPENDENCE, OHIO– When Larry Nance Jr. got traded to his hometown team, there was one thing he definitely wasn’t expecting.
“Trying to convince my mom that I’m not living at home,” he said with a laugh.”We’re out looking for rental properties and stuff like that and she’s like, ‘well, our basement.'”
But even without his parents’ basement, Nance Jr. is truly home in Cleveland. Thursday night against the Washington Wizards, he will make his debut at Quicken Loans Arena as a member of the Cavaliers, after he was shipped from the Lakers to his father’s former squad at the trade deadline. Larry Nance Sr. has his No. 22 jersey hanging in the rafters at The Q.
While there was speculation that his dad’s jersey might come out of retirement, Nance Jr. said that at least for now, he’s fine sticking with the number he has.
“I’m 24 right now,” he said after practice on Wednesday. “We’ll revisit it in the summer, but with everything that just happened so fast I wasn’t allowed to go to Cavs management and say hey what would you think about taking 22 down. But I don’t want to see it come down. So if there’s some way where I could even just drop the ‘Jr.’ off my jersey and just wear the ‘Nance 22’. I’d love to keep it up there and I would also love to wear 22, I just don’t want to see it come down. So we’ll revisit it in the summer and see.”
Nance says they will revisit wearing dad’s No. 22 jersey in the summer. Doesn’t want to see it come down, and says he would be willing to drop the “Jr.” from his jersey to get to wear it. “I’d love to keep it up there and I would also love to wear 22” pic.twitter.com/7HiTG6r5Oh
— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) February 21, 2018
It’s safe to say that Nance Jr. has found other ways to honor his father’s NBA legacy. Over All-Star weekend, he came in second-place in the Slam Dunk Contest. He even recreated the cradle dunk that his dad won the 1984 contest with, Phoenix Suns jersey and all. Nance Jr. said he tried to keep it a secret from his father, but is sure he knew something was up when he didn’t fess up about what his third dunk was.
Regardless of how well he kept the secret though, the moment was not lost on Nance Jr.
“Those are moments that I don’t know any father or son has ever had, so to me that’s the coolest part of it all,” he said. “I’m already having several pictures blown up to be framed.”
Nance: The dunk contest was a blast… those are moments that I don’t know any father or son has ever had, so to me that’s the coolest part of it all and I’m already having several pictures blown up to be framed. pic.twitter.com/aO0bz1o7Xq
— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) February 21, 2018
But with the All-Star break now over, Nance Jr. can focus on getting fully acclimated with his new team. He and the other Cavs newcomers, Jordan Clarkson, George Hill and Rodney Hood, had their first practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts on Monday. According to Nance Jr., the team spent a lot of time getting their legs back underneath them and hammering home some of their offensive sets. Since they only had a handful of days together before the All-Star break, head coach Tyronn Lue wasn’t too surprised that they forgot some of the plays.
The trade, plus the dunk contest, and the fact that he’s now home on a championship contender have all contributed to turning the last couple of weeks into a “circus,” for Nance Jr., as he put it. But with all the potential distractions, he seems more than ready to accept the challenges that await and to focus on winning.
The fact that he gets to do it at home just seems to be a sweet bonus.
When asked if it was going to be hard not to look over at his family during Thursday night’s game, Nance Jr. said he was just going to try and stay in the moment and focus on getting a win.
“Oh I’m so excited,” he said. “Even when I was with the Lakers, every year I looked forward to coming back here and getting to play under my dad’s jersey and in front of my family. Tomorrow getting to do that for the first time of hopefully many, many times will be really exciting.”
Even though his dad knows all of those emotions, Nance Jr. said he hasn’t really gotten advice from him ahead of Thursday night.
“At the end of the day it’s basketball,” he said. “I’m already starting off better than he did when he got traded here, I think they lost eight in a row, so I’m doing pretty good. He doesn’t really have to tell me anything. It’s make winning plays. They traded me for a reason, so play that way.”
Larry Nance Jr. says his dad hasn’t really given him any advice about tomorrow: “At the end of the day, it’s basketball. I’m already starting off better than he did when he got traded here, I think they lost eight in a row.” pic.twitter.com/179sjCf0ly
— Ashley Bastock (@AshleyBastock42) February 21, 2018
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