Cavaliers: Larry Nance Jr. lost 20 pounds in 1 week due to illness

Cleveland Cavaliers big man Larry Nance Jr. lost 20 pounds while battling an illness last week.

After a week-plus out of the lineup, power forward/center Larry Nance Jr. could be back on the floor shortly for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Nance has been held out of the Cavaliers’ last five games due to an illness. He began feeling ill in the morning ahead of Cleveland’s game at the Utah Jazz on March 29. The illness left him bed-ridden, as he struggled to keep food down. According to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, Nance lost 20 pounds in a week’s time because of the illness. Every test he received came back negative, including the one administered for COVID-19.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Larry Nance Jr. losing 20 pounds due to an illness is scary

While it is totally normal for somebody to lose some weight because of a stomach bug, for a person to lose 20 pounds in about a week is absolutely frightening, especially when this person is a professional athlete at the peak of his physical abilities. Though COVID-19 was not the cause of this rapid weight loss, you have to wonder what type of illness knocked the big guy down like that.

Cleveland has essentially treaded water with Nance out of the lineup. The Cavaliers dropped their first three games without him, but have rattled off two victories in a row heading into Saturday night’s home game against the Toronto Raptors. Though Cleveland might not be a playoff team this year, they still have time to get in position for the play-in round among the No. 7 to No. 10 seeds.

Here’s to a speedy recovery for Nance, as he battles his way back from a pretty serious illness.