Hawks forward Larry Nance Jr. is set to miss the rest of Atlanta’s 2024/25 regular season as he continues to rehabilitate from a lingering right medial femoral condyle fracture, the team has announced (via Twitter). Nance initially suffered the injury on February 10 against Orlando.
The Hawks have pledged to provide an update on Nance’s status after the regular season concludes next month.
At 35-37 on the year, the Hawks are currently the Eastern Conference’s No. 7 seed. They are 10 games clear of the No. 11-seeded Raptors, making a play-in tournament berth all but assured at this juncture of the year.
Assuming Atlanta survives the play-in, as either a No. 7 or No. 8 seed in the East, and qualifies for the actual playoffs, the language of this news seems to indicate there’s a chance the club could be adding Nance back to the fold.
The 6’8″ big man has barely been available to the Hawks this season. In the 24 contests he’s played, the Wyoming alum logged averages of 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists during his first season with Atlanta. He was acquired as part of the Hawks’ offseason deal to ship out former guard Dejounte Murray to New Orleans.
Nance is now the fourth Hawks player who will miss at least the end of the regular season. Most critically, starting forward Jalen Johnson tore the labrum in his left shoulder in January. Reserve center Clint Capela hurt a ligament in the fourth metacarpal of his left hand last week, and is expected to be back in three-to-four weeks — i.e. at the end of the regular season. Guard Kobe Bufkin had surgery for a right shoulder instability in December.