Team: Indiana Pacers · PF/C · Age 33 · Base role: emergency big; one simultaneous healthy-night minute
Projection card
| GP | MPG | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | 8.0 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | .500 | .650 | 0.4 |
Nine-category: 240+. Points: emergency big only. Dynasty: 400+.
Why the line looks like this
Indiana officially signed Nance July 9 after he averaged 3.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 0.6 steals in 12.8 minutes over 35 Cleveland games, shooting 41.9/33.3/46.2. Zubac, Huff and small-ball Toppin all project ahead of him. official Pacers transaction · Basketball Reference
Hashtag's July crowd ranked Nance 159th but still listed ATL, an obviously stale and overly optimistic market artifact for this role. Hashtag crowd
Redraft, dynasty, and scenarios
- Redraft: waiver-only, and even a Zubac absence may favor Huff/Toppin first.
- Dynasty: no hold outside exceptionally deep formats.
- Floor: DNP-CD heavy season.
- Ceiling: 15 minutes with 5 rebounds and a steal/block blend if two frontcourt players are unavailable.
Confidence
| Roster | Minutes | Rates | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | Low | Medium-low | Medium-low |
Career record
Pre-NBA: Four seasons at Wyoming (Mountain West), 2011-12 through 2014-15: 11.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in 123 games. Two-time All-Mountain West and two-time all-conference defense, Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year in 2014-15, and he took Wyoming to its first NCAA tournament since 2002. Draft: 2015, first round, 27th overall, Los Angeles Lakers.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-16 | 23 | LAL | 63 | 20.1 | 5.5 | 5.0 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 | .527 | .681 | 0.7 |
| 2016-17 | 24 | LAL | 63 | 22.9 | 7.1 | 5.9 | 1.5 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | .526 | .738 | 0.9 |
| 2017-18 | 25 | LAL/CLE | 66 | 21.5 | 8.7 | 6.8 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.0 | .581 | .664 | 0.8 |
| 2018-19 | 26 | CLE | 67 | 26.8 | 9.4 | 8.2 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 | .520 | .716 | 1.4 |
| 2019-20 | 27 | CLE | 56 | 26.3 | 10.1 | 7.3 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.0 | .531 | .676 | 1.1 |
| 2020-21 | 28 | CLE | 35 | 31.2 | 9.3 | 6.7 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 1.2 | .471 | .612 | 1.6 |
| 2021-22 | 29 | POR/NOP | 46 | 22.6 | 7.0 | 5.4 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.5 | .522 | .702 | 0.8 |
| 2022-23 | 30 | NOP | 65 | 21.2 | 6.8 | 5.4 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | .610 | .696 | 0.6 |
| 2023-24 | 31 | NOP | 61 | 19.9 | 5.7 | 5.0 | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | .573 | .770 | 0.8 |
| 2024-25 | 32 | ATL | 24 | 19.3 | 8.5 | 4.3 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.4 | .516 | .692 | 0.7 |
| 2025-26 | 33 | CLE | 35 | 12.8 | 3.7 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 | .419 | .462 | 0.6 |
| Career | 581 | 22.4 | 7.5 | 5.9 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | .535 | .692 | 0.9 |
Durability: Never above 67 games in eleven seasons, and below 50 in four of them. The specific causes are documented only for the most recent collapse: 2024-25 fell to 24 games after right hand surgery in December, then a nondisplaced fracture of the right medial femoral condyle suffered February 10 that cost him the rest of the season. The 2020-21 and 2021-22 shortfalls are not verified here as to cause. He returned for 35 games in 2025-26 but at roughly half his usual minutes.
Trajectory: The peak version — 2018-19 through 2020-21 in Cleveland, roughly 9-10 points, 7-8 rebounds, 2-3 assists and 1.5 steals with genuine passing for a big — is gone. The 2025-26 line is the sharpest decline of his career: minutes cut to 12.8, field-goal percentage down to .419 against a .535 career mark, and free-throw shooting at .462. That is the profile of a body that did not come back from the femoral condyle fracture. Indiana signed him July 9 as frontcourt insurance behind Zubac, Huff and small-ball Toppin, which is the fourth big on a healthy night. He is fantasy-relevant only if two of those three miss time simultaneously, and even then the bet is on rebounds and stocks at roughly 15 minutes, not on scoring.
Career sources: ESPN player stats · StatMuse 2025-26 season averages · Wikipedia · Sports-Reference college · Hoops Rumors on the 2024-25 knee fracture · ESPN on the 2024-25 hand surgery
Open questions
- Is Nance intended for a regular matchup role or chiefly veteran insurance?
- Can his shooting rebound enough to play next to a non-shooting center?