9:08pm: The signing is official, according to the NBA.com transactions log. The contract is four years and $44.8MM, Joe Vardon of The Athletic tweets. Vardon adds (via Twitter) that the deal will have declining annual salaries, so year one will be worth $12.7MM while the fourth-year salary will be just $9.6MM.
3:55pm: The Cavaliers and Larry Nance Jr. have agreed to a rookie scale contract extension, beating today’s 5:00pm CT deadline, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). League sources tell Haynes that Nance’s new deal with Cleveland is worth $45MM over four years.
Nance, 25, was acquired by the Cavs at last season’s trade deadline as part of a deal with the Lakers that also sent Jordan Clarkson to Cleveland. The athletic young big man struggled a little to adjust to his new team, playing just 15.4 minutes per game in the postseason, but he provided the Cavs with the sort of energy and athleticism that their frontcourt had been lacking.
For the season, Nance established new career highs with 8.7 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and a .581 FG%, showing an ability to run the floor, finish at the rim, and guard multiple positions on defense. He appeared to have a noticeable impact on defense — the Cavs had a 102.7 defensive rating during his minutes, compared to a 110.9 mark for the rest of the season.
We heard all the way back in June that there was “mutual interest” between the Cavaliers and Nance in a long-term extension, so he always seemed like one of the likeliest candidates among the players eligible for rookie scale extensions to get a deal done. His connection to Cleveland – where his father played and earned multiple All-Star nods – was likely a factor in those extension talks too.
While an average annual value of $11MM+ may seem steep for Nance, it’s not far off from the rookie scale extensions we’ve seen comparable players sign in recent years. When I previewed Nance’s case for an extension in August, I estimated an annual salary in the $12-12.5MM range on a four-year deal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Lakers trade of Clarkson (12.5) and Nance (11.25) saved them roughly 24 million this year and netted them a first round pick. I’d say it was a good trade.
It got them LeBron. Great trade
The Cavs didn’t get anything back for LeBron. He had a no trade clause. Gilbert got rid of Derrick Rose, Dwayne Wade, Iman Shumpert, Isaiah Thomas, and Channing Frye because LeBron wouldn’t tell Dan Gilbert what his intentions were.
I would imagine the reason the cavs didn’t get anything back for LeBron is there was no trade. LeBron left as a free agent. IMHO is a good thing for the cavaliers
Butler, Irving, Kawhi, and Paul George all let their teams know they wanted out so they could get something in return before they hit free agency. DUDE, LeBron had a no trade clauses so the Cavs couldn’t trade him. LMAO is on you! Do your homework!
The reason the Cavs got Nance Jr., Clarkson, and George Hill is because of Kyrie, the one you hate and call stupid.
And Colin Sexton. I’ll bet if you ask Gilbert who did him right, he’ll tell you Kyrie. LeBron left twice with nothing to help the Cavs out.
Cavs would.never have traded LeBron, they got.one final trip to the NBA finals put of it. Even if LeBron said hey I am leaving they would have gone all on for one more chance. As for Kyrie noone is saying he did the cavs right, dude a little rat
He said IMHO. Relax bud.
Thomas Swanson, Mio, Ptn18 or whatever he goes by today is just a troll who hates the Cavs and posts things like that whenever someone disagrees with him.
Is that all the same dude? I could’ve sworn Thomas Swanson was a lot cooler than Ptn18 and I think if it was him he’d be talking about the Pacers all day. This dude is just off the wall crazy yelling at everything LeBron does lol
It’s the same dude….he gets banned for getting into fights with people on here and makes another screen name. I’ve see Ptn18 post lots of stuff on Pacers, writing it too similar and just disagree with him, he’ll start with the name calling
Not really on LeBron. But it was a great trade. They had plenty of cap room for LeBron prior to this trade. The trade opened up room for a second max guy, which, in the end, they didn’t get. Getting rid of Clarkson and the 1st rounder was worth Nance, at least from their perspective.
11 million a year for a guy who averages 21 minutes a game and has zero offense.
Wayyyyyyy to much money for a rotational player lmao woah!
You guys are funny…. Biyombo got 4 years, 17M per year. Festus Ezeli got 8M per year, and never played.
This contract is fine for what his role will be on that roster. The Cavs will not draw a single marquee free agent. I mean are you going to hope every player from Ohio wants to return to the Land?
Love it, Nance Jr will evolve on the Cavs now with LeBron gone and will become a key part of the Cavs future. I totally see him averaging 13 ppg with 8 rpg and 2 bpg whether that’s starting or off the bench. He’ll be a consistent mid-range shooter also so great job by the Cavs.
Dionis just made sense!
Agree. Good for both the cavs and nance.