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During Los Angeles Lakers training camp, sophomore forward Larry Nance, Jr. made NBA history when he became the first player to ever adopt their own teammate when he welcomed rookie center Ivica Zubac as his son.
With his first season in the books, and after learning enough to feel like he can block one of his father’s dunks, Zubac will return to Croatia for a few weeks to start his summer.
While watching one’s children leave the nest for the first time is a bittersweet moment for any parent, Nance seems to be handling it well.
“I’m letting him go visit who he claims to be his other parents in Croatia for a little bit,” Nance told Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum Sportsnet, but he plans to see his son again soon for some “father-son bonding” in May.
“There’s a Mexico vs. Croatia soccer match out here, and I think I’ll be taking my son to his first soccer game, so that’ll be fun,” Nance said.
A team having great players is nice, but having high-character ones seems to be of a special level of importance to Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka and the new front office, so Nance handling fatherhood so well is certainly a feather in his cap moving forward.
You can watch the whole touching interview below, and when I have kids someday, I just hope I can raise them as well as Nance is obviously raising Zubac:
.@Larrydn22 on his summer plans with @ivicazubac. pic.twitter.com/bu2QUaCmCz
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) April 16, 2017
The preceding post is (mostly) parody. Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.