Larry Nance Jr. – Cleveland Cavaliers
Cedi Osman’s teammate on the Cavaliers, Larry Nance Jr., has been drawing a ton of interest around the league this past week and is definitely a high-value trade target for numerous playoff contending teams this year. The 28-year old forward is now in his sixth season in the league and has been out since February 6th with a fractured finger, but is expected to be ready to go during the second half of the NBA season.
As of right now, the Cavaliers have not made their intentions clear on whether or not they want to “sell” a bunch of their players, but Nance would definitely come at a high price on the trade market. He has consistently been getting better and tougher as an interior rebounder and given what he can do in the paint, the Celtics would have to be willing to give up a fair amount of assets to acquire him.
Bringing in Nance not only gives Boston another strong rebounder next to Tristan Thompson, but a front-court player who is comfortable guarding virtually anybody. Nance Jr. has always been a really solid defender and one of his better attributes is his ability to disrupt passing lanes and cause turnovers. He is averaging 1.9 steals per game this season and is very active defensively.
The biggest problem for the Celtics this year is that while they have Thompson and Theis, two solid rebounders in their front-court, they do not really receive much production from either of them offensively. They are averaging 7.9 points and 9.3 points per game respectively, which is why adding a talented overall forward like Larry Nance Jr. makes sense.
Nance is shooting a career-high 38.1% from three-point range this season and his versatility really is the strength of his game. He fits the role of a “hybrid big” perfectly and can pretty much do anything he is asked.
In some rotations, Nance Jr. can even be the center, giving the Celtics a potential small, but lethal scoring lineup of Kemba Walker, Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Larry Nance Jr. At full strength, the Celtics would definitely have the firepower to contend with any team in the Eastern Conference, which is why Larry Nance Jr. would be such a huge pickup for the Celtics.
