NBA notes: Larry Nance Jr. to wear father’s retired No. 22 jersey

The Cleveland Cavaliers will again have a No. 22, and he looks eerily familiar. Larry Nance Jr. is getting to honor his father by wearing his dad’s retired No. 22 jersey with the Cavaliers, who worked with the NBA to make the unique tribute possible.

“My dad’s jersey will get to stay retired in the rafters, so, I couldn’t be happier with it,” Nance Jr. said Thursday night before making his home debut with the Cavaliers, who recently acquired him in a trade with the Lakers. “I’m thrilled. I’ve been wearing 22 my whole life and to get to wear it for the Cleveland Cavaliers is beyond a dream come true.”

Nance Jr. will begin wearing No. 22 next week. For now, he’ll be in No. 24, the number he chose after he was obtained from the Lakers.

When he was traded, Nance Jr. considered how special it would be to wear his dad’s number, which was retired by the Cavaliers in 1995 and hangs above Quicken Loans Arena. Larry Nance Sr. spent eight seasons with Cleveland and was a fan favorite because of his shot blocking and dunking skills.

The kid is just like his dad.

The younger Nance said his dad didn’t have a big reaction when he got the news.

“I called him and told him yesterday that we were kind of talking about it and got it passed,” he said. “My dad is a man of few words so he kind of just let me know with a smile that he was excited.”

Last weekend in Los Angeles, Nance Jr. wore his father’s No. 22 Phoenix jersey while participating in the dunk contest at the All-Star game. Nance Jr. took his look a step further by dressing like his dad when he played in the 1980s.

Will he bring back the retro look?

“This means short shorts and high white socks,” Nance joked. “Absolutely.”

NBA sets up hotline for work issues

The NBA is establishing a confidential hotline for league and team employees to report concerns about misconduct in their workplace. The move comes after a Sports Illustrated report that described a hostile environment for women in the Dallas Mavericks organization.

Commissioner Adam Silver sent a memo to teams Thursday detailing plans for the hotline and asking them to review their respect in the workplace policies. The memo states that “respect and integrity are core NBA values, and we all must work to ensure that they are reflected in the culture and workplaces of our organizations.”

The memo, obtained by the Associated Press and other organizations, asks teams to complete their review of their policies by March 6.

The hotline will allow employees to report concerns “including but not limited to sexual harassment, illegality, or other misconduct.”

The SI story this week detailed allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by former team president Terdema Ussery, and said team website reporter Earl Sneed was twice accused of domestic assault while working for the Mavericks.

Etc.

The Sacramento Kings are looking to bring the NBA All-Star game to California’s capital for the first time. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, Mayor Darrell Steinberg and tourism officials are set to detail plans for the bid for the game in 2022 or ’23 on Thursday and submit an application to the league Friday. Getting the game would cap a remarkable comeback for Sacramento, which nearly lost its franchise to Seattle in 2013 before Ranadive bought the team and put together a deal to build a state-of-the-art downtown arena.