The New Orleans roster has added two players over the last two NBA trade deadlines who are major soccer aficionados, acquiring center/forward Larry Nance Jr. in 2022 and wing Josh Richardson this February. Nance is a self-described Chelsea diehard, while Richardson loves Arsenal. Nance’s enjoyment of “the real football” is one the topics he discussed as the subject of this week’s “24 Seconds” Q&A, the final edition of the 2022-23 campaign.
Pelicans.com: Who are the three best-dressed Pelicans?
Nance: Garrett Temple, number one, by a pretty far margin. Dude’s classy. Probably CJ McCollum and then Trey Murphy. I appreciate their style.
Pelicans.com: What are your top three road cities?
Nance: Number one is Cleveland. It's just where I’m born and raised so my family’s there. I enjoy that. Two, probably Los Angeles. The weather, the food, it is hard to beat. And then three, Miami. They’ve got some good sushi down there.
Pelicans.com: Three favorite sports other than basketball? I can guess number one probably.
Nance: Yeah. The real football. Football. Yes, I love me some soccer. Soccer might be number one, two, and three. I love that sport, but probably the real football, then American football two, and then three, I'd say... I'm going to leave three alone. Besides basketball, NFL and soccer, I leave most sports alone.
Pelicans.com: What soccer league do you follow?
Nance: Premier League. I’m a diehard blue (Chelsea fan). I’ve got the blue flag in my house, I wear the jerseys to games. Every time we play, I got the kit on. Oh yeah. Diehard.
Pelicans.com: This team has players from several different countries. Dyson Daniels from Australia; Willy Hernangomez from Spain; Jonas Valanciunas from Lithuania. Are they as into soccer as you are?
Nance: No. Willy loves him some Real Madrid. They knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League last year, so he's got that on me.