Larry Nance Jr. out vs. Trail Blazers

The Cavs will be down another front court player Thursday night against the Trail Blazers.

Per the Cavs, Larry Nance Jr. will miss the game with a right hamstring issue that, per cleveland.com, he had wrapped up at the team’s shootaround in Portland Thursday morning. The issue first hampered Nance on Tuesday when the Cavs beat the Suns. Nance missed the entire second half of that game with the hamstring issue.

Rookie Ante Zizic will start in Nance’s place. He was started one previous game earlier this season, but only played four minutes and 38 seconds in that game. He, however, has played better of late while filling in for Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and now Nance.

This is a touch game to be missing Nance, as the Trail Blazers are one of the league’s hottest teams and start the bruising Jusuf Nurkic at center. This certainly figures to be a tough test for Zizic and whoever else the Cavs throw in for minutes at center. Per cleveland.com, coach Tyronn Lue said at shootaround that Jeff Green would be Zizic’s primary backup and won’t start as a result.