Larry Nance Jr. Will Wear His Father’s Old Number With The Cavaliers

Larry Nance Jr. getting acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers was a really cool moment due to his ties to the organization. Nance was born in Akron, Ohio, and his father, Larry Sr., played seven years with the Cavaliers. The elder Nance had a successful tenure in northeast Ohio, to the point that the franchise retired his number, 22.

That was the number that Larry Jr. wore during his collegiate career at Wyoming. He was unable to rock No. 22 as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers — it was previously worn by Elgin Baylor and since retired — and for a little, it looked like he would not wear the number in Cleveland. Despite the fact that Larry Sr. wanted it un-retired for his son, Larry Jr. allegedly insisted on keeping it in the rafters.

But after some apparently thought regarding the situation, the younger Nance will indeed rock 22 this season. The news was announced on Thursday evening before the Cavs’ game against the Washington Wizards.

Nance expanded on this during a press gathering, saying that wearing this is “fulfilling a dream.”

There’s no word on when the change will happen, but Nance will be in his dad’s number sometime next week. For Thursday’s game, Nance will wear his current number, 24. And in a cool note about how Cleveland will handle this, Nance will wear his dad’s number while 22 still hangs in the rafters of Quicken Loans Arena.

This is a cool story, because you can tell it really means a lot for the Nance family that Larry Jr. gets this opportunity. And besides, watching a Nance wear 22 for Cleveland makes all the sense in the world.