Larry Nance Jr.
New Orleans Pelicans

Player Facts

Height: 6'8"
Weight: 245lbs.

Wingspan: 7'1.5"

Date of Birth: Jan. 1, 1993
College Experience: Wyoming (4 years)

Selections

All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0

Player Grades

Speed/Explosiveness: 8
Physical Strength: 9
Positional Size: 6
Positional Wingspan: 9
Paint Scoring: 9
Midrange Scoring: 5
Three-Point Scoring: 6
Dribbling: 5
Passing: 7
Perimeter Defense: 8
Interior Defense: 7
Rebounding: 8

Embed from Getty Images

JUMP TO SECTION

> Intro

> Expanding his Game

> Big Bounce

> Finding his Teammates

> Post Play

> Offensive Gap-Filling

> Versatile Defense

> Stabilizing Team Defender

> Turnover-Forcing

> Offensive Shortcomings

> Undersized on Defense

> Beacon Bacon

>Link to Player Contract & Salary Info

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*All statistical data courtesy of NBA Advanced Stats

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STRENGTHS

Intro

Larry Nance Jr. is a positionally fluid 6'8" player with loads of athleticism. He's very mobile for a "big" and also long, boasting a 7'1.5" wingspan. The Ohio native is highly versatile on both ends of the court.

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Expanding his Game

He burst onto the scene as a high-flying, lob-catching big man. Being undersized hasn't prevented him from making an impact at the NBA level. Larry's been able to guard three or four positions well thanks to his athletic tools, motor, and defensive smarts.

An early-career Nance was mostly a guy who would rim run, screen, rebound, and knock down the odd midranger. Since his Laker days, he has expanded his game to be capable of much more than that on offense. He smoothly initiates DHO's, can roll, pop, shoot a bit, and is a deft passer at his position.

As of 2018-2019, Nance has stepped out to shoot some threes as well. While not a high-volume guy, he's been pretty accurate on his long-range jumpers nonetheless. 37.2% is what he shot on spot-up triples over 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 combined. 2023-2024 represents another low-volume, strong accuracy season from deep.

By extending his range, Larry becomes more scalable as a big man. He also maintains the ability to play the four in a league with more and more shooting.

Nance is now able to play next to traditional five-men some (about a fifth of his 2022-2023 minutes were at PF). His skill diversity has allowed for some interesting lineups surrounding him. Larry's frontcourt mates have ranged from LeBron James to Kevin Love, Andre Drummond, and Jonas Valanciunas.

Big Bounce

The 2018 Slam Dunk Contest runner-up (to Donovan Mitchell) still has some bounce in those legs. He couples that with a high compete level that he sustains through fatigue/big minutes. Larry has had some jaw-dropping in-game jams.

From a practical standpoint, Nance's dunking holds tremendous value. It ups his roll gravity and finishing ability to elite territory. For instance, he shot an outstanding 74.4% at the rim in 2022-2023, including 66 dunks.

The Wyoming product is one of the better lob-catchers in the Association. Despite his size, he gets up quickly for one or two-handed slams. The threat of this as he sprints downhill after setting the ball screen sucks in defenders – away from their assignments.

He ended up with 325 paint touches in 2019-2020. Several of these were on hard rolls to the rim. That figure was higher than Julius Randle, Christian Wood, and Aaron Gordon. 2022-2023 saw his per-game paint touches number of 3.3 sit next to those of solid bigs Bobby Portis, Jalen Johnson, and Jabari Smith Jr.

Finding his Teammates

A differentiator for Larry is his playmaking in these actions. His short-roll passing is very strong. Nance has seemingly natural instincts here and rapidly processes rotations/teammates in motion. Generally, his stationary reads are strong.

When at the four, he will look to flip up a lob to his five-man in the dunker's spot. Draymond Green is the master at this, tossing the ball up once the low man has committed to his own roll.

Larry can also be a useful weapon when situated at the elbow. He can knock down a midranger if sagged off of or dime up a teammate. His skilled cutters Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III are wise to get moving when Larry has the rock here.

2018-2019 saw him deliver 4.2 assists per-36 minutes with the Cleveland Cavaliers. 3.0 per-36 was the figure his next campaign. Importantly, he stayed under 2 turnovers per-36 in both seasons. 2022-2023 in New Orleans saw a nice 2.83 AST/TO ratio.

Post Play

The low post is more so a vehicle for Larry to scan the floor for teammates than anything else. However, he is efficient when he looks to score down low, springing up high for hook shots. 2019-2020 had him in the 92nd percentile for post scoring.

Offensive Gap-Filling

Strength, energy, and the ability to get up off the floor so fast allow Nance to be a big-time offensive rebounder. From 2016-2017 to 2019-2020, he never dropped below 2.6 offensive boards/36 for a full year. 2.8/36 was the figure in 2022-2023. 2019-2020 had him in the 79th percentile for putback scoring.

Besides his garbage-bucket-getting, Nance continues to fill in the gaps on offense with some cutting and floor-running. He's an intuitive off-ball player in the half-court which harmonizes with his bouncy athleticism. In transition, he sprints right to the hoop for alley-oops.

Versatile Defense

Nance is a flexible, impactful defensive piece. He can play in multiple different schemes, guard various positions, and is a sound team defender. He can go from being a drop big in the pick-and-roll to one who switches seamlessly onto twos/threes.

He has guarded players of all shapes and sizes across his career. Since he is somewhat of a tweener, he isn't stuck guarding a certain type of player. His mobility comes into effect against smalls, and his length and strength do against larger players.

In 2022-2023 he spent over 120 "matchup minutes" on guards, forwards, and bigs respectively. That year and in 2019-2020, backcourt players had the roughest go of it out of the bunch. Larry held them to 42.4% shooting in the latter.

Stabilizing Team Defender

The cerebral Nance Jr. helps prop up weaker pieces in the five-man unit. He's ever aware, communicates well, and can cover up some mistakes and blown coverages with that length and his anticipatory skills. That particular trait really comes in handy on a Pelicans team comprised of mostly youth.

Turnover-Forcing

Anticipation, his 7'1.5" arm-span, and fast hands allow Larry to be a high-output steals/deflections guy. He actually gets many of these as an off-ball defender, with ideal athletic gifts to intercept lobs and pocket passes. If he forces a turnover, Larry has the handle to start taking the ball back the other way.

More often than not, he provides around 2 steals per-36 for a season. Drilling down, with picture-perfect ball denials and long arms, he gets a piece of even more basketballs.

WEAKNESSES

Offensive Shortcomings

Larry needs to become a bit more reliable as a jump shooter, especially if he's playing several minutes at power forward. Similar catch-and-shoot clips but on larger volumes would be ideal. Additionally, he isn't a great free-throw shooter.

He's not going to create his own shot within the half-court offense. Nance is a play-finisher rather than a play-starter, at least when it comes to his scoring. A little more creativity would be nice for a guy with his athleticism and natural vision.

Undersized on Defense

Being undersized has its drawbacks as an NBA big man, and for Larry, they happen to be on defense. He doesn't rim-protect as well as many true bigs – given he is just 6'7.5" barefoot. Players tend to shoot around their typical average on the interior even with Larry there.

The blocks aren't really there either for the former Wyoming Cowboy. Per-36, he's only giving you 0.5-1.0 swats in a typical season. Being in that next 1-1.5 range is a better place to be given his positional expectations.

The last branch of his size-based defensive struggles is post defense. He is physically well-built but too short to properly contest those 6'10"+ players. 2018-2019 had him in the 40th percentile for post defense, worsening to the 18th percentile in 2019-2020. Flash-forward to 2022-2023, he is still sitting poorly at the 47th percentile.

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bacon
Beacon Bacon

Larry's father Larry Nance Sr. spent seven years with Cleveland himself – averaging 16.8 points/game, 8.2 rebounds/game, and 2.5 blocks/game as a Cav