One of the greatest point guards in recent NBA history has called it a career. Steve Nash retired after playing 19 seasons in the NBA. The 41-year-old point guard has been plagued by injuries since he arrived via trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers gave up four draft picks with the intent of pairing Nash with Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant. Nash played 50 games his first season with the Lakers. The following season his body only allowed him to play15 games in which he shot a career low of 33 percent from downtown.
Nash is the poster-boy for what hard work, and determination looks like. His NBA career started with the Phoenix Suns. Even though the Suns already had capable point guards like Sam Cassell, Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd. During Nash’s rookie season with the Suns, he only played sparingly. His scoring increased his second year in the league going from 3.3 to 9.1 points per game. The Dallas Mavericks took notice and made a daring trade for a player not many people were still sure about.
The Mavericks gave up four players in total after the 1998 NBA draft and one of those players turned out to be Shawn Marion. Wow. Lightning definitely struck twice in the career of Steve Nash. He looked so confident in that blue uniform with the green and white stripes. Nash was that piece the Mavericks organization desperately needed.
I felt that the Dallas Mavericks had a dark cloud over them. When Derek Harper put on a New York Knicks uniform, it didn’t look right. Jason Kidd, Jimmy Jackson, Jamal Mashburn scored lots of points, pulled off plenty of jaw dropping highlights, but didn’t reach the playoffs. Before Nash, the Mavs were never seen as a potential legitimate threat.
That changed with Steve Nash. In the 2000-01 season, he doubled his scoring, his assist totals went from 4.9 to 7.3 and accumulated a then-career high in the number of games and minutes played. With a better more, mature assembly of talent with Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley, the Dallas Mavericks became legit threats in the difficult Western Conference. They qualified for the playoffs for the first time in a decade. As the great Jim Ross would say, “Business is fixing to pick up.”
The Mavericks got a chance to taste the playoffs again and Steve Nash’s star was indeed on the horizon. However, the Mavericks got a taste of defeat in back-to-back seasons after losing to the San Antonio Spurs and that fun Sacramento Kings team with Chris Webber, Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakavic.
Nash became a free agent 2003-04 season and returned to the Suns. The timing was perfect because former Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni needed a quarterback on the floor to run his offense. Nash made a seamless transition to this up tempo potent offense that would bring a tear to the eye of former St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz. That season the Suns averaged 110 points per game. Steve Nash helped improve the win total from 29 to 62. Nash won his first of two straight MVP awards, after be lowballed by the Mavericks, due to concerns of his age.
You can’t fault Mavericks owner Mark Cuban for making that business decision, and to his credit he can say he got the better of the deal because, the Mavericks went on to win two conference titles and one NBA title since they parted ways. Nash got eliminated in the Conference Finals by the Spurs and Mavericks in back-to-back seasons.
Steve Nash reflected on that in a statement posted on theplayertribune.com, where he serves as senior producer.
“It will always hurt that Phoenix Suns fans didn’t get the championship they deserved during our run. Yes, we had some bad luck but I always look back at it and think, I could’ve made one more shot, or not forced a turnover, or made a better pass. But I don’t regret anything. The arena was always sold out and rocking. It was the time of my life.”
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