Larry Nance Jr. Joins the Pacers' Absurd Injury Report for Monday
Underdog NBA reported: 'Larry Nance Jr. (illness) listed out Monday.'
Larry Nance Jr. is officially out for Monday night with an illness, according to Underdog NBA. On a normal team, a backup big man catching a bug in early November is barely a blip on the radar. But for the , it is just another line item on an injury report that currently reads like a CVS receipt.
Nance joins a staggering list of unavailable bodies in Indiana. Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, and Ivica Zubac are all ruled out. Pascal Siakam is taking a rest day. Obi Toppin is questionable with a bad back. At this rate, the might have to pull a fan out of the lower bowl just to run a five-on-five scrimmage.
Before the illness hit, Nance was logging about 16 minutes a night off the bench, chipping in 3.3 points and shooting 43.9 percent from the floor. Those are not exactly the kind of numbers that swing a championship, but when your entire frontcourt is wearing street clothes, losing a reliable veteran rotation guy is a brutal blow.
The timing could not be worse. Indiana is stumbling out of the gate with a 2-5 record and has to host the Atlanta Hawks tonight. With no Siakam, no Zubac, and now no Nance to protect the paint, the Hawks are going to see a runway to the rim. Anyone holding an Atlanta team total ticket or looking at prop bets for guys attacking the basket has to feel pretty good about the math right now.
Nance should be day-to-day, though his public history with Crohn's disease always makes digestive or illness-related absences something to monitor with a bit more care. For now, the just have to survive Monday night. If they take another hit to the rotation, they might have to start holding open tryouts in the parking lot.