One of the most athletic players and best dunkers to ever play in the NBA. Larry Nance is remembered by a lot of casual fans which is odd because many retired players in this section of our list aren’t. But than again we are moving close to the top 100 so names will start becoming more familiar. Nance had a solid but not great career at Clemson University. He played four years for the Tigers and was a starter in 3 of them. He was never considered a great scorer as his best average in points came his senior year at just under 16 a game. But he was considered to be a well rounded basketball player. This well-roundedness lead the Phoenix Suns to select Nance with the 20th pick in the 1981 NBA draft. Nance’s rookie year was decent. He was a role player who cracked the rotation appearing in 80 games averaging just under 7 points a game. He made the starting line up his second year and his scoring jumped to 17 a game and his rebounds to 9 a game.

Nance slowly worked his way into becoming a star in the NBA. In 1984, in Denver, during the inaugural NBA All-star slam dunk contest he finished first. The next year after averaging 20 points a game he made the all-star team. He was skipped over for the western all-star squad in 1986 and 87 which brought the league a lot of ire from Nance and the Suns organization. In fact being skipped over for the all-star game is something which would become a running gag through-out his career.

Part way through the 87-88 season the Suns dealt Nance to the Cavs for Kevin Johnson. The Suns were rebuilding after a drug scandal nearly did the team in and thought Nance was getting too old. Nance would find a new home in Cleveland and become one of the Cavs most celebrated players.

Nance would never again average 20 or more points a game but his rebounds were always near 9 a game and the Cavs seen some of their best success in franchise history. Nance would make the all-star game twice as a member of the Cavs.

Nance retired after the 1993-94 season which was plagued by injuries for him. He finished his NBA career appearing in 920 games with averages of 18 points and 9 rebounds.

Currently Nance is a drag racer in the pro-stock series.

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