Larry Nance Jr. and Kobe Bryant were only teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers for one season, but Bryant is perhaps one of the reasons why Nance is still in the NBA today.
Nance, currently in his ninth season in the NBA, was a rookie with the Lakers during the 2015-16 season, which also happened to be Bryant's last. The Lakers drafted Nance at the back end of the first round and he earned significant minutes almost instantly on what was to this day the worst team in franchise history.
Nance's athleticism and ability to get to the hoop made him a fun player to watch with the ball in his hands, but the college dunk artist shied away from throwing it down during his first few weeks in the Association.
When Bryant had finally seen enough during a game against the Atlanta Hawks, he dug into Nance and tried to instill a “dog” mentality in the then-22-year-old.
“We came to a timeout and he grabbed my jersey like ‘Hey MF. I’ve seen you in practice. Dunk everything! I don't care who's there, they can't touch you. Dunk everything,” Nance said on Run It Back.
Nance said that he then dunked on the next Lakers possession, immediately validating Bryant's claims.
The NBA was no stranger to a Nance dunking all over the court. Nance's father, Larry Nance Sr. won the league's inaugural dunk contest in 1984.
Nance Jr. took part in the 2018 dunk contest and paid tribute to his father by wearing his retro 1984 Phoenix Suns jersey for one of his dunks. He also brought Nance Sr. out to help with another, eventually finishing second to Donovan Mitchell.
Who knows what could have been for Larry Nance Jr's career if Kobe Bryant hadn’t given him that confidence.
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