Larry Nance Jr. dropped the hammer not once, but twice against the 76ers in the Lakers second game at 2016 NBA Summer League
Excitement certainly wasn’t at a premium for the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night as they took the floor for their second contest at 2016 NBA Summer League, a matchup with the Philadelphia 76ers. That of course was due to the last-second heroics of D’Angelo Russell—but Larry Nance Jr. was definitely able to make his presence known earlier in the contest.
Coming into Las Vegas for Summer League, one of the things that many Lakers fans were looking forward to was Nance and his high-flying antics. Those weren’t really on display in Game 1 out in the desert, but he made sure that they were on Saturday.
As things started to pick up for both teams in the third quarter and as the Lakers were in the midst of their comeback, Russell drew in the defense and Nance recognized the lane. The point guard found Nance on the cut and hit him with a nice pass. The second-year forward knew what to do from there as he skied for a thunderous jam:
Larry Nance Jr. flying for the monster throw down. https://t.co/aq7g3YEObJ
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 10, 2016
Of course, the second-generation NBA player (and second-generation high flyer for that matter) wasn’t done there.
In the fourth quarter with the comeback for the Lakers all but complete, Nance picked up the ball off of a defensive rebound and proceeded to run the floor and deliver another monster jam on the 76ers:
"Nance goes coast to coast for the powerful slam #GoLakershttps://t.co/AEF8tyeMzB— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 10, 2016"
Some may say this is somewhat premature at this point (it’s not, though), but if Larry Nance Jr. isn’t in the 2017 NBA Slam Dunk Contest, this world truly is lost.
In all seriousness, the second-year forward was wholly impressive as a rookie despite low expectations and these first two games in Vegas have made it seem as if he’s already improving as well. Without question, there’s reason to be excited about Nance and it’s not just the way he rocks rims.