After 18 seasons in the NBA, 10,335 assists, two MVP awards and four Western Conference Finals appearances, Steve Nash‘s status as one of the greatest point guards in the history of the league is unquestionable. But for the Los Angeles Lakers, Nash has represented nothing but an unfortunate waste of cap space for a guy who’s only played 65 games with the team.
Regardless of where you stand on appreciating Nash’s tremendous career, it appears his injury-prone tenure with one of the most storied franchises in the association could be coming to an end.
According to Bleacher Report senior NBA writer Kevin Ding, Nash is expected to be ruled out for the entire 2014-15 season due to a recurring back injury that limited him to 15 games last year. At age 40, Nash’s 19th year in the league was expected to be his last one. The two-time MVP has one year left on his contract with the Lakers and will be paid $9.7 million for the upcoming season.
Nerve damage in Nash’s back prevented him from contributing much during the 2013-14 season, during which he averaged 6.8 points and 5.7 assists in 20.9 minutes per game. In his first season with the Lakers — during which Los Angeles was expected to contend for a title with Nash, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard — Nash put up 12.7 points and 6.7 assists in 32.5 minutes per contest while starting all 50 games he played in. But the Lakers were plagued with injuries and the championship aspirations never materialized into anything more than a first round playoff sweep by the San Antonio Spurs.
Heading into his third season in Los Angeles, expectations weren’t high for the Lakers, but most fans were hopeful that the point guard who went toe-to-toe with Kobe Bryant so many times would finally be able to stay healthy long enough to help him out. Bryant only played six games last season due to injury problems, so the reunion of a healthy Nash and Black Mamba gave L.A. fans at least one thing to be excited about.
Lakers PGs: Lin, Clarkson, Price RT @Lakers: Press release on Nash with quotes from him & Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak. pic.twitter.com/YeSoIuWOn9
— Adam Wexler (@AdamJWexler) October 24, 2014
Unfortunately, Nash’s solid preseason debut — 11 points and five assists in 20 minutes — wasn’t a sign of things to come. Last year, Nash tweaked his back getting out of bed. This time around, the soreness came from carrying his bags.
Nash’s last All-Star appearance was in 2012, when he joined Michael Jordan, Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players at age 38 or older to make an All-Star game. But since that sign-and-trade with the Phoenix Suns, Nash has been unable to bring any of his stellar play to the team that used to be his rival.
The Lakers gave up two first round picks — including a conditional 2015 pick — and two second-rounders in the deal, while agreeing to pay Nash $27 million over three years. With Nash out for the entire 2014-15 season, Jeremy Lin will be the team’s starting point guard, with Jordan Clarkson and Ronnie Price backing him up off the bench.
It’s unfortunate to say it, but it appears that the NBA’s all-time leader in free throw percentage and third placeholder on the NBA’s all-time assist list could be done. After so many memorable seasons with Mike D’Antoni‘s Suns, not to mention the Dallas Mavericks before that, it seems cruelly unfair for Nash’s last days to be spent taking body shots from Father Time AND Lakers fans who have been deprived of the opportunity to enjoy his game. Nash is by all rights a future Hall-of-Famer, but by ruling himself out for what was supposed to be his last season, it seems the retirement of this all-time great could be imminent.