Player profile · CLE / PHO

Larry Nance

Larry Nance stats, teams and career impact

#71 all-timeCareer averages · 17.1 PPG · 8.0 RPG · 2.6 APGPeak-weighted regular-season model · playoffs, awards, and championships excluded

Position: Power forward
Final NBA team: Cleveland Cavaliers
Height / weight: 6 ft 10 in (208 cm) · 205 lb (93 kg)
Born: February 12, 1959 (67 yrs old)
College: Clemson
NBA seasons: 13 seasons · 1981–82 to 1993–94

Career or season view

Career summaryLarry Nance was a power forward who played 13 NBA seasons, from 1981–82 through 1993–94.

Career PPG: 17.1
Career RPG: 8.0
Career APG: 2.6; #8 in 1984–85; #71 all-time

Peak-weighted regular-season model · playoffs, awards, and championships excluded

Career overview

Why Larry Nance ranks #71 all time

Larry Nance ranks #71 all time. Across his three best seasons, his average league finish was #9.3. His full-career value ranks #52, so longevity is a major reason he lands this high.

Peak#8 in 1984–85

Best league finish

Sustained excellence2 top-ten finishes

450+ minutes required per season

Career breadth13 seasons

920 games · Career Value Rank #52

NBA honors3× All-Star · 3× All-DefenseContext only; honors are not model inputs.

Head to head

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Full player detailsTeam history, career shooting and sources

Full team history

Teams: Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers
Greatest Cavaliers →Greatest Suns →

Career shooting

NBA regular season

Field goal: 54.6%FG%
Three-point: 14.5%3P%
Free throw: 75.5%FT%

920 career games · 30,697 minutes

Sources and updateConventional stats and measurements: Basketball Reference, accessed Sep 13, 2026. hussEyquation ranking data through 2025–26. Life dates: Wikidata; conflicting dates checked against Basketball Reference, accessed Sep 17, 2026.

Traditional box score

Larry Nance stats by season

Start with scoring and impact, then switch views for shooting or the full advanced picture. Career percentages use total makes and attempts.

Box impact is an estimate in points per 100 possessions, not the 0–100 Impact Rate score. Zero is league average; higher is better. Rate rank is a league place: No. 1 is best.

Swipe for PPG · RPG · APG · Box impact · Team · G · GS · MPG →

				pts/100 · higher is better
1993–94	11.2	6.9	1.5	+1.04	CLE	33	19	27.5	48.7%	—	75.3%	#72	52.7
1992–93	16.5	8.7	2.9	+3.80	CLE	77	77	35.8	54.9%	0.0%	81.8%	#14	315.5
1991–92	17.0	8.3	2.9	+5.26	CLE	81	81	35.6	53.9%	0.0%	82.2%	#11	413.6
1990–91	19.2	8.6	3.0	+4.45	CLE	80	78	36.6	52.4%	25.0%	80.3%	#17	374.1
1989–90	16.3	8.3	2.6	+3.54	CLE	62	53	33.3	51.1%	100.0%	77.8%	#21	226.4
1988–89	17.2	8.0	2.2	+3.91	CLE	73	72	34.6	53.9%	0.0%	79.9%	#14	304.9
1987–88	19.1	9.1	3.1	+3.60	CLE/PHO	67	60	35.6	52.9%	33.3%	77.9%	#13	277.1
1986–87	22.5	8.7	3.4	+4.94	PHO	69	67	37.2	55.1%	20.0%	77.3%	#9	379.1
1985–86	20.2	8.5	3.3	+3.72	PHO	73	69	34.0	58.1%	0.0%	69.8%	#15	310.4
1984–85	19.9	8.8	2.6	+4.49	PHO	61	55	36.1	58.7%	50.0%	70.9%	#8	305.1
1983–84	17.7	8.3	2.6	+3.08	PHO	82	82	35.4	57.6%	0.0%	70.7%	#16	311.4
1982–83	16.7	8.7	2.4	+3.72	PHO	82	82	35.5	55.0%	33.3%	67.2%	#13	352.9
1981–82	6.6	3.2	1.0	+0.43	PHO	80	0	14.8	52.1%	0.0%	64.1%	#77	59.7
Career	17.1	8.0	2.6	—	CLE/PHO	920	—	33.4	54.6%	14.5%	75.5%	—	—

Source: Basketball Reference regular-season totals, accessed Sep 13, 2026.

Film evidence

Larry Nance highlights

Watch the selected footage or film analysis, then use the season record and impact data to put what happened on the floor in context.

Team career retrospective

Phoenix Suns Since '68: Larry Nance

Phoenix's official feature shows Nance's above-the-rim finishing, weak-side shot blocking and athletic frontcourt play before his Cleveland years.

What these measures mean

Box impact: Estimated points per 100 possessions above that season's league average, from the historical box-score model. Zero is league average; higher is better. Historical defense estimates are included where labeled. This is not the live model's lineup-adjusted estimate.
Impact Rate: A 0–100 score comparing performance within one season. Higher is better. This is a score, not points per possession.
Impact estimate: The season model's final estimated points per 100 possessions above league average, before conversion to the 0–100 Impact Rate score. It includes lineup evidence where available. Zero is league average; higher is better.
Impact Rate rank: The player's place among qualified players in that season's Impact Rate ranking. No. 1 is best. This is a rank, not an impact score.
Value contribution / Season Value: Completed seasons use a fixed-baseline contribution to Career Value. The live season instead uses Season Value, combining that season's impact with workload.
Career Impact Rank: An all-time rank weighted toward the player's best three, five, and ten seasons.

Career Impact Rank#71

10.5 composite · lower is better

Best 5#86

10.8 average league finish

Career Value Rank#52

3,683 total value

Impact Rate: 0–100 score within one season. Higher is better.
Box impact: Estimated points per 100 possessions above league average, from the historical model. Zero is average; higher is better.

Career standing

How Larry Nance ranks all time

These are league placements, not raw scores. Each season is judged against that season's qualified player pool.

Number-one seasons0

Best in the league

Top-five seasons0

Elite finishes

Top-ten seasons2

Upper-tier finishes

Top-10 Impact Margin4.1

Tie-breaker across top-ten seasons

Career Composite Score10.5

Best 3, Best 5, and Best 10 average league finishes receive 50%, 30%, and 20% window weights. Missing seasons receive a replacement finish just below the player's typical qualified field. Lower is better.

Best 3 effective weight: 74%
Missing-season finish: 258.0
Qualified seasons: 13
All-time rank: #71

Strongest seasons

Every season

Larry Nance advanced stats by season

Era-centered box impact supports comparisons through time. Impact Rate and its rank compare players only within that season.

More advanced statsAge, minutes, impact, rank, value and data coverage

					pts/100 · higher is better	0–100 · higher is better
1993–94Historical Defense Estimate	CLE	34	33	909	+1.04	75.6	#72	52.7	55th	Standard
1992–93Historical Defense Estimate	CLE	33	77	2,753	+3.80	95.6	#14	315.5	95th	Broad
1991–92Historical Defense Estimate	CLE	32	81	2,880	+5.26	96.5	#11	413.6	98th	Broad
1990–91Historical Defense Estimate	CLE	31	80	2,927	+4.45	94.5	#17	374.1	95th	Broad
1989–90Historical Defense Estimate	CLE	30	62	2,065	+3.54	93.0	#21	226.4	89th	Broad
1988–89Historical Defense Estimate	CLE	29	73	2,526	+3.91	95.1	#14	304.9	93rd	Broad
1987–88Historical Defense Estimate	CLE/PHO	28	67	2,383	+3.60	95.2	#13	277.1	92nd	Broad
1986–87Historical Defense Estimate	PHO	27	69	2,569	+4.94	96.9	#9	379.1	96th	Broad
1985–86Historical Defense Estimate	PHO	26	73	2,484	+3.72	94.5	#15	310.4	94th	Broad
1984–85Historical Defense Estimate	PHO	25	61	2,202	+4.49	97.2	#8	305.1	93rd	Broad
1983–84Historical Defense Estimate	PHO	24	82	2,899	+3.08	94.0	#16	311.4	95th	Broad
1982–83Historical Defense Estimate	PHO	23	82	2,914	+3.72	95.3	#13	352.9	97th	Broad
1981–82Historical Defense Estimate	PHO	22	80	1,186	+0.43	70.1	#77	59.7	56th	Broad

Career movement

Larry Nance's box impact by season

Peak box impact +5.26 points per 100 possessions in 1991–92 · 13 seasons · 30,697 minutes

Box impact estimates points per 100 possessions above each season's league average. Zero is average; higher is better. Rank labels show Impact Rate league places, not ranks on this chart's box-impact scale.

Box impact · points per 100 possessionsMinutes

Player-specific impact scaleWorkload

Career comparison

Compare the shape, not the calendar

Align by NBA experience to compare season one with season one, or by age to compare players at the same stage of life.

Compare with a similar careerOpen full comparison →

Larry NanceBill Russell

Box impactEra-adjusted points per 100 possessions above league average · higher is better · dashed marker means the player did not play

Larry Nance and Bill Russell era-centered impact values by NBA season number
NBA season	Larry Nance	Bill Russell
1	0.4	2.0
2	3.7	3.6
3	3.1	3.9
4	4.5	4.1
5	3.7	3.2
6	4.9	4.0
7	3.6	3.7
8	3.9	4.5
9	3.5	4.8
10	4.5	3.8
11	5.3	4.7
12	3.8	3.1
13	1.0	3.7

NBA season number

Similar career arcs

Players with careers similar to Larry Nance

The career-similarity score compares era-centered box impact, peak, prime, workload, career length, position, and experience-aligned trajectory. It describes career shape, not playing style, equal ability, or probability.

C · All-Time Career #24

Bill Russell

career similarity score

91/100 closest-season score · 1991–92 ↔ 1966–67 PF · All-Time Career #10

Bob Pettit

career similarity score

92/100 closest-season score · 1991–92 ↔ 1962–63 C · All-Time Career #117

Marc Gasol

career similarity score

92/100 closest-season score · 1991–92 ↔ 2016–17

How to read this page

Impact Rate shows how strong a player was compared with everyone else that season. Season Value adds how much he played; completed player-profile rows instead show each season's fixed-baseline contribution to Career Value. Career Impact Rank rewards a high peak, a long prime, and repeated seasons near the top. Older seasons use clearly labeled estimates where the NBA did not record today's full set of statistics. Read how every ranking works →

NBA season	Larry Nance	Bill Russell
1	0.4	2.0
2	3.7	3.6
3	3.1	3.9
4	4.5	4.1
5	3.7	3.2
6	4.9	4.0
7	3.6	3.7
8	3.9	4.5
9	3.5	4.8
10	4.5	3.8
11	5.3	4.7
12	3.8	3.1
13	1.0	3.7

NBA season	Larry Nance	Bill Russell
1	0.4	2.0
2	3.7	3.6
3	3.1	3.9
4	4.5	4.1
5	3.7	3.2
6	4.9	4.0
7	3.6	3.7
8	3.9	4.5
9	3.5	4.8
10	4.5	3.8
11	5.3	4.7
12	3.8	3.1
13	1.0	3.7

NBA season	Larry Nance	Bill Russell
1	0.4	2.0
2	3.7	3.6
3	3.1	3.9
4	4.5	4.1
5	3.7	3.2
6	4.9	4.0
7	3.6	3.7
8	3.9	4.5
9	3.5	4.8
10	4.5	3.8
11	5.3	4.7
12	3.8	3.1
13	1.0	3.7