The historic career of Steve Nash came to an end yesterday. As the outpouring of love and respect for Nash and his career flowed in, there was also time to reflect and think about what could have been.
The obvious thing everyone wonders about is Steve Nash and the chances he had to win an NBA championship. How he led the Phoenix Suns for 9 straight seasons with the best offense in the NBA and changed the way the game is played today. How Nash’s 2 MVP trophies didn’t result in wins in the post season.
It appears that there was some interest for Nash to be part of a team that possibly has one of the best chances to win a championship. It appears the Cleveland Cavaliers were interested in Nash and his services.
Following from Marc Stein of ESPN.com
League sources told ESPN.com earlier this month that LeBron James‘ Cleveland Cavaliers — who happen to have two of the biggest Nash admirers on Earth in their front office, in David Griffin and former teammate Raja Bell — let it be known to longtime Nash agent Bill Duffy that they would love to give the old man a whirl as a short-minute backup to Kyrie Irving if Nash wanted to seek a buyout from the Lakers after the trade deadline passed with no deal.
No chance, though. …
“I think I can [still] have a great game,” Nash said. “But I can’t do it more than once or twice a month.”
Add another guy to the list of players the Cavaliers ‘have/had interest‘ in. The list in too numerous to even imagine at this point but you have to appreciate LeBron reaching out and wanting to possibly bring in Nash for what could be a championship run.
The fact that Nash wouldn’t have a good game in him, more than once of twice in a month is pretty telling for where he was in his career when he stepped aside. If Nash was to move to Cleveland and give Kyrie Irving a break ever now and then, that wouldn’t be beneficial to his legacy. Nash needed to win a title on his own, with his own team and unfortunately he didn’t. Still, that doesn’t take away from his legacy and how great of a player he was.
