Larry Nance Jr. explains why nostalgic Classic Edition Cavs uniforms mean more

The Cleveland Cavaliers debuted their Classic Edition uniform and accompanying court design for the first time this year—a nod to the mid-2000s Cavaliers era—as the Cavs topped the 76ers 132-121 Wednesday night at Rocket Arena.

“It’s more than just dope jerseys,” Larry Nance Jr. told Cavs On SI after the game. "It’s the era of basketball that meant so much to the city and me as a kid.”

Nance graduated from Revere High School near Akron, Ohio in 2011 where he grew up watching and appreciating the first LeBron James era of basketball in Cleveland. Then in 2018, in just his third season in the NBA, Nance was traded to the Cavaliers where he got to play alongside LeBron, which included a playoff run to the NBA Finals.

“It’s more than just dope jerseys, it’s the era of basketball that meant so much to the city and me as a kid”

Larry Nance Jr. (who rocked the throwback LeBrons tn) shares his thoughts on the nostalgia of the Classic jerseys and pregame intro video— a reimagined nod to the… pic.twitter.com/lidHB4wHNK
— Gabriella Kreuz (@thesportsGab) November 6, 2025

Nance wore white and navy throwback LeBron 2s for the game Wednesday night.

Former Cavs guard Ira Newble (2003-2008) pulled the sword pregame and the scoreboard crew unveiled a re-imagined 2009 intro hype video featuring both the throwback and new Cavaliers roster.

BE STILL MY 2008 BEATING HEART !! Cavs pregame hype video #letemknow pic.twitter.com/PLrFViDAZx
— Gabriella Kreuz (@thesportsGab) November 6, 2025

Darius Garland played in his first game of the season since undergoing toe surgery in the spring and Donovan Mitchell dropped his first 40-burger of the season finishing with a season-high 46 points, four rebounds and eight assists.

Mitchell attributed his explosive night to a kid who smack-talked him playing NBA 2K earlier in the day.

“This kid pissed me off today,” Mitchell said with a smile. “I was playing 2K for like two hours—I told him too I was like wait, just wait. He called me washed up, he called me a bunch of things. But I love it you know what I mean?”

Donovan attributes his big night to a 2k player who “pissed me off”

Please watch 🤣😭 #letemknow pic.twitter.com/1VPzn4vIi8
— Gabriella Kreuz (@thesportsGab) November 6, 2025

Mitchell did not want to share the username of the player but said he was following through with his word to give to give the digital roaster a shout out.

Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson had some high praise for Mitchell’s big night.

“I just think he’s underrated,” Atkinson said. “What guards in the east are better than him? And what was amazing about tonight is how easy he made it look—and they got athletes, they got Drummond in there.”

Sam Merrill and Jarrett Allen also returned to the starting lineup. Allen notched a double-double with a season-high 24 points and 10 rebounds. Allen said playing with a fractured ring finger was manageable.

“It was decent,” Allen said. “I could feel it some plays when the ball was coming at me and I had to catch it with my left hand. Any type of large hit to my left hand is definitely going to take me out for a second but it wasn’t too bad.”

Cleveland started out strong in the first quarter as Garland immediately scribbled himself into the scoring column with a drained a three just over a minute into the game. The Cavs built a 17-point lead in the first quarter that was eventually whittled down to 3 by the half, 70-67 Cavaliers.

The Wine and Gold came out of halftime refreshed going on a 20-8 run in the third quarter and finishing it with a 20-point cushion on the Sixers, their largest lead of the game. Mitchell and Allen combined for 27 points in the third quarter.

The Cavs are 1-0 in Classic jerseys and 5-3 on the year. They head to Capital One Arena to take on the Washington Wizards Friday at 7:00 p.m.