Larry Nance Jr. should now apparently be described as a weapon capable of lethal force after the dunk he threw down on Brook Lopez
Even as a rookie seeing limited playing time for the Los Angeles Lakers last season, forward Larry Nance Jr. was still able to fly at times and show off his tremendous athleticism. In fact, there were plenty of people—albeit a large portion of them Lakers fans—calling for him to be in the dunk contest. With the team having vastly improved in Year 2 for Nance, though, anything impressive he does gets a little more shine.
What he did to Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez on Wednesday night, though, would’ve gotten shine if he were playing in Siberia amongst eight-year-olds.
On the road in Brooklyn for the night, the Lakers and Nets were locked in a close battle in the third quarter. That’s when Nance took a pass at the top of the key and saw his man close out a bit too hard. The Lakers forward then ripped through and took off towards the rim. Doing his job as the help man and resident rim-protector, Lopez stepped over to try and contest. Instead, all Lopez did was ultimately make himself into a step ladder and prop for the Lakers youngster’s highlight:
Come on, man! You can’t be treating other human beings like that, Larry.
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That’s legitimately a candidate for Dunk of the Year and we’re only at mid-December, not even two months into the regular season. What’s more, if this doesn’t start getting people clamoring to put him in the dunk contest, I’m not sure what will. There’s a chance that no one currently in the NBA can compete with what Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon showed they’re capable of. While that’s fair, my money is on Nance being closest to doing so. If you need any evidence, just watch what he did on Wednesday on repeat until you understand.