Steve Nash's tenure with the Lakers has ended. Today, the two-time NBA MVP and former All-Star announced his retirement today by writing an article on the Player's Tribune website. Nash was dealt to the Lakers in a sign-and-trade during the Lakers' 2012 blockbuster offseason that also included the trade for Dwight Howard. The Lakers gave up a two first round picks and two second round picks to acquire Nash after several illustrious seasons with the Phoenix Suns. However, Nash's tenure with the Lakers didn't come to fruition as multiple injuries derailed his time with the Purple and Gold.
I originally didn't want to write about this other than the fact that I just want to wish Steve Nash good luck in his future. However, due to the lack of Laker content on this blog as I've been cancelling numerous nationally televised Laker games to cover for this year, I feel this is little compensation. To be honest, I don't think you can ever consider that there was a Steve Nash era with the Lakers. When the Lakers first acquired him, Nash was already getting up there with age. I think his last season with the Suns is when he was officially approaching the end of his career. There were two reasons why Nash was dealt to the Lakers: 1) Nash wanted to go to a contender close to his family residing in Phoenix and going to the Lakers was his best chance to finish his career with a ring. 2) The Lakers front office retaliated from the vetoed Chris Paul trade (f*ck David Stern for that still) after the 2011 lockout and took the next best alternative the following offseason by acquiring Nash.
The 2012 offseason for us Laker fans, we thought that it was a coup. The Lakers acquired Nash, acquired Dwight, kept Pau Gasol, it looked like Mitch fooled both then Suns' GM, Steve Kerr and Magic GM, Rob Hennigan and was in position to win Executive of the Year. Mitch thought he outsmarted them both, but in the end both Steve Kerr and Rob Hennigan ultimately won that trade subliminally. The Lakers mortgaged their future a lot acquiring an aging Nash, who battled injuries all seasons long playing for the Lakers. We already know the story with Dwight. Focusing back on Nash though, the lesson we learned once again during Nash's tenure is that Father Time is undefeated. No matter how healthy you feel or how well conditioned you've been in the past or if there's something that you want to do you haven't done yet before you consider your career is all said and done, Father Time will find a way to ensure you walk away from the game you love. Nash tried denying that in order to get that elusive ring he's been chasing throughout his 18-year career in the NBA, but Father Time just simply said "I'm sorry, but time's up."
For us Laker fans, it's easy to bash Steve Nash because he ate up some of the salary cap just to be in a suit and tie and not contributing to the team. However, it doesn't change the fact that Steve Nash has placed himself as one of the NBA's all-time great point guards and is the most classy guy you'll ever meet (even though I've never personally met him). Nash gave us Laker fans more fits in his prime during his time with the Phoenix Suns than when he was sitting on the Laker bench injured at the twilight of his career. He, however, left one lasting memory with the Lakers despite not delivering a lot of memories donning the Purple and Gold and that was moving up into third place on the NBA all-time assists list during a regular season matchup against the Portland Trailblazers last season. He also paved the way for the future by taking rookie, Jordan Clarkson under his tutelage and it paying dividends big time with Clarkson putting up great numbers in the last few games. Unfortunate that Steve Nash's tenure didn't work out for the Lakers, but I wish him the best in all his future endeavors.
Links to the 2012 offseason posts from this blog:
http://trueraiderlaker.blogspot.com/2012/07/blockbuster-report-lakers-agree-to-sign.html
http://trueraiderlaker.blogspot.com/2012/08/dwight-howard-to-lakers.html
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