Cavaliers’ Larry Nance Jr.’s career year interrupted by finger surgery
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks with a hand injury.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have been much more competitive than a lot of NBA fans anticipated so far in the 2021 season. Starting the season 3-0 gave the young Cavs team an initial spark and two big wins over the new-look Brooklyn Nets certainly put them on more people’s radars. Even though they’ve since mellowed out in the record column, the Cavs have a few things they can be proud of at this point and one of them was the performance of Larry Nance Jr.
Nance Jr. has been the Cavaliers’ starting forward for most of the season as veteran Kevin Love continues to rehab a high-grade right calf strain he reaggravated in a December win over the Philadelphia 76ers. Averaging 9.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.9 steals in 33.4 minutes per game, Nance Jr. was proving to be very useful in his time on the court. He had also pushed his 3-point percentage up to 38.1 through 19 games. His progress will, unfortunately, be slowed down now due to a finger injury.
Finger surgery should keep Larry Nance Jr. out for more than a month
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that Cavs forward Larry Nance Jr. is expected to miss four to six weeks with a finger injury. He had recently missed some time because of a nagging right wrist injury but this fractured finger is on his left.
Reporting with @WindhorstESPN: Cleveland F Larry Nance Jr., is expected to be lost four-to-six weeks with a fractured finger on his left hand, sources tell ESPN. Nance will likely undergo surgery.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 7, 2021
The loss of Nance Jr. will certainly affect the Cavs as he’s been a tremendous presence for them on the defensive end. He’ll, unfortunately, miss at least the rest of the first half of Cleveland’s 2020-21 schedule and probably most of March. If things go as planned, the Cavs could hope to have him back for All-Star weekend. The Cavs will have to rely heavily on Jarrett Allen and Andre Drummond in the post moving forward.
Cleveland currently sits in the 10th spot in the East, behind Toronto of all teams. We hope Nance Jr. is able to make a full recovery from his injuries and is able to get back on the court as soon as he’s ready.
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