Larry Nance Jr. has played with the Los Angeles Lakers for his entire NBA career. Taken late in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft, Nance has turned into a solid contributor off of the Lakers’ bench, especially when it came to producing highlight dunks that lit the crowd at Staples Center ablaze.
But on Thursday afternoon, Nance’s time in Los Angeles came to an end. The third-year forward was traded from the Lakers, alongside Jordan Clarkson, to Cleveland. In exchange, the Lakers acquired Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye, and the Cavs’ first-round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Thomas moving, obviously, garnered all the headlines. While that was happening, Nance decided to say goodbye to the Lakers on Instagram, thanking the organization, his teammates, and the team’s fans.
The coolest part of this was Nance jacking the #JustAKidFromAkron hashtag, which is usually used in reference to LeBron James. Nance’s father, Larry Sr., spent seven years with the Cavaliers and made the postseason five times with the organization. Additionally, Nance Jr. was born and raised in Akron before heading to college at the University of Wyoming.
Still, at the NBA trade deadline every year, people are viewed as assets in an exchange of goods rather than human beings. It’s always cool when players decide before they leave a place that they want to say goodbye and shout out everyone involved in their time with their now-former team one last time.
