Larry Nance

Nance was moved to New Orleans last season from Portland and saw meaningful minutes down the stretch and through the playoffs. However, Zion Williamson's return will cut into his opportunities, making him a tough player to roster consistently. As seen in the past, Nance can provide specialist value even in limited minutes, which could very well be the case this season. If he can carve out a 20-minute role, managers should look at him as a potential source of steals and rebounds when seeking a short-term boost.

For better or for worse, Nance's fantasy value has been tied to Kevin Love's health in recent years. That's resulted in Nance often being a nice, late-round draft selection or mid-season pick-up due to Love's consistent injury issues. He's ranked inside the top-105 in each of the past three seasons. Last year, he was 85th in per-game production via 9.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.2 combined steals-plus-blocks in 31.2 minutes. He's also improved his three-point shooting, hitting 1.1 threes per game at 35.5 percent over the past two seasons. This season brings about a new opportunity for Nance, as he was dealt to the Trail Blazers in the offseason in the trade that sent Lauri Markkanen to the Cavaliers. Nance has potential to play a multi-position sixth-man role for the Blazers, who are extremely short on quality depth. Though Nance has mostly played power forward and center, he saw some run at small forward last season and has a chance to continue that in Portland. Fantasy managers who have been high on Nance's upside in recent seasons should feel good about this move. Aggressively, he could be targeted around picks 80-90, but he can probably be had later than that.

For a fifth straight season, Nance set a new career high in points (10.1) as a direct result of increased opportunities from beyond the arc -- he averaged 2.8 three-pointers per game compared to 1.5 in the previous season. However, the 27-year-old forward sustained slight dips across the rest of the categories, posting 7.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 26.3 minutes per contest. He should be in line for a similar workload in the upcoming season and perhaps a slight uptick if he can stay healthy. Tristan Thompson left for Boston in free agency but was quickly replaced by fifth-overall pick Isaac Okoro. Nance should still have an edge as one of the first players off the bench, but Okoro's addition is just more competition standing in the way of minutes.

During Nance's first full season in Cleveland, he set career highs in points (9.4), rebounds (8.2), assists (3.2) and minutes (26.8) over 67 contests. Though the Cavs finished near the bottom of the league in the standings, that didn't really impact the big man's overall production. In fact, it may have given him even more opportunities to succeed, especially considering the injury bug that bit Cleveland during the 2018-19 campaign. While Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson will both be back for the upcoming season, Nance figures to slot in as one of the first players off the bench in the frontcourt, likely allowing him to rack up minutes in the mid-20s on a nightly basis. That's assuming he stays healthy, however. Nance hasn't cracked more than 67 games in his first four seasons. On a positive note, Nance's shot from three improved drastically in 2018, as he knocked down a career-best 33.7 percent of his triples, sinking an average of 1.5 per matchup. The former first-round pick out of Wyoming continues to trend upward as he gains NBA experience, and he'll take that momentum into the 2019-20 season.

Nance opened the 2017-18 campaign in complementary role off the bench with the Lakers, providing the all-around production and energy that coaches love. However, a mid-season trade involving the Cavaliers' Isaiah Thomas and handful of other players ended up sending Nance to Cleveland as an upside piece. The 6-foot-9 big man's value didn't change much with his new organization, though, and in 66 games between the two teams, he posted averages of 8.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.3 steals, while shooting 58.1 percent from the field. His situation with Cleveland became slightly more intriguing this offseason after LeBron James bolted for Los Angeles. The Cavaliers have already tabbed Nance as a building block for the future and are hoping to extend the 25-year-old, which would suggest the team is hoping to key in on his development moving forward. Kevin Love was given a four-year, $120 million extension and Tristan Thompson is back and set to make over $17 million, so there are a few players in the way of a 30-plus minute role. That said, if the organization does like Nance's upside as much as has been let on, look for him to see a decent uptick in his playing time from the 21.5 minutes he averaged in 2017-18. While Nance's lack of a three-point game and poor free-throw percentage are always of concern, his ability to provide across-the-board value would bring him into consideration for ownership in the the bulk of Fantasy leagues if he's able to garner a full starter's workload. Look for Nance to at least be the first big man off the bench right away, though he could work his way into the top unit eventually.

Nance's lack of perimeter game may end up confining him to the bench for the better part of his career, but he's already shown at 24 years old that he's still quite valuable to the Lakers as a role player. Though injuries cropped up periodically last season, Nance was a solid producer when healthy, averaging 7.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals in just 22.9 minutes per game while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor. As an athletic, high-energy player, Nance provides a nice change-of-pace option at power forward behind the more offensive-minded Julius Randle, and is also capable of moving up on the positional spectrum to lock up more perimeter-oriented small forwards. If Nance were to land a consistent 30-minute role, he'd probably offer enough across-the-board value to warrant ownership in just about every fantasy setting, but that seems unlikely to materialize in 2017-18. With the Lakers still viewing last year's No. 2 overall pick, Brandon Ingram, as their starting small forward alongside Randle and veterans Luol Deng and Corey Brewer and rookie Kyle Kuzma also in the mix for playing time at forward with the second unit, Nance looks bound to stick in the 20-to-25-minute range for the foreseeable future.

Judging by the crowd reaction at Las Vegas Summer League, the Lakers may have found their bench sparkplug/cult hero in Larry Nance Jr. Despite an inauspicious start as a Laker, when a derogatory tweet about Kobe Bryant was discovered on his timeline, Nance has been embraced by the Lakers' fans and showed off some surprising skills. The senior from Wyoming was selected with the 27th pick in the first round of the 2015 draft after averaging 16.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.2 blocks, and 0.5 three-pointers in 35 minutes through his 31 games last season in the Mountain West conference. He'll have to battle Julius Randle, Brandon Bass, and Ryan Kelly for minutes at the power forward spot, and for him to have a meaningful impact this season, a lot will need to go right for him and wrong for the Lakers for that to happen. But, Nance showed off incredible athleticism in Vegas, and his college play showed an aptitude for acquiring defensive stats, which can be extremely valuable in fantasy leagues. The problem is, will the rest of his game develop enough, and will he get enough of an opportunity to be helpful in fantasy leagues this season? That seems like it may be a tough task.