CLEVELAND -- Larry Nance Jr. has played in his hometown at Quicken Loans Arena before, but he has never done it while wearing a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey.
Two weeks after Nance and guard Jordan Clarkson were acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Akron native and Revere High School graduate will make his Cleveland debut as the new-look Cavaliers play host to the Washington Wizards for a nationally-televised game between two top teams in the Eastern Conference.
“I’m so excited,” Nance said after Wednesday’s practice. “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. Getting to do that the first time of what will hopefully be many, many times will be really exciting.
“I’m just going to enjoy it. Obviously, when I’m in the game, I have one focus, and that’s to win, but yeah, if I’m on the bench or in a timeout and I catch myself kind of drifting like, ‘This is really real,’ I’m sure it’ll happen.”
Such a moment might occur when Nance looks to the rafters for the banner bearing the retired No. 22 his father, Larry Sr., wore during his since seven years with the Cavaliers.
Since Nance Jr. joined the team, much has been made of whether he will eventually wear his father’s old number, but with plenty of business to tend to over the final 26 regular-season games, as well as what is hoped to be a long playoff run, that discussion has been tabled.
“I’m 24 right now,” Nance said. “We’ll revisit it in the summer, but with everything that just happened so fast, I wasn’t about to go to Cavs management and say, ‘What do you think about taking 22 down?’
“I don’t want to see it come down, so if there’s some way where I could even drop the ‘Junior’ off my jersey and wear the ‘Nance 22.’ I’d love to keep it up there. I’d also love to wear 22, but I just don’t want to see it come down, so we’ll revisit it in the summer and see.”
In his first two games with the Cavaliers, both of which were Cleveland victories on the road, Nance averaged 9.0 points, 6.5 rebounds -- including 4.0 on the offensive end of the floor -- 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocked shots.
The 6-foot-9, 230-pound Nance may be undersized as it relates to playing center, but he knows how to use his frame and is making the types of plays that turn games in Cleveland’s favor.
Despite going against the powerful center, Steven Adams, a 7-foot, 255-pound native of New Zealand, in last Tuesday’s win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Nance pulled down nine rebounds, including eight on the offensive end of the floor.
“At the end of the day, it’s basketball,” Nance said of advice his father has given him ahead of his Cleveland debut.
“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 just ‘Make winning plays. They traded for me for a reason, so play that way.’”
