Steve Nash Finally Retires, Ends Crumbling NBA Career

By Jerry Landry
Steve Nash Retires Los Angeles Lakers NBA Basketball MVP
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The two-time MVP from north of the border has decided to walk away from the NBA today. Steve Nash, the 41-year-old point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers, has decided to end a 19-year pro career.

The retirement of Nash feels like a polarizing eulogy — we want to remember the point guard for the good times, but can’t help thinking about some of the decay over the last few years.

The back-to-back MVP campaigns were great, but then there’s the 50, 15, and zero game seasons in which Nash was a Laker.

Then I think about the impressive nine-year playoff run Nash was a part of from 2001-2010 — while in the brutally-competitive Western conference — but then the thought creeps in that we haven’t seen the Canadian Pistol Pete in three of the last four postseasons

During this eulogist farewell, I will remember Nash for everything I saw with my eyes. The quickness, the motor, the ability to make 6-foot-3 cover the entire 94 feet. Nash completed passes that should only be attempted by a trained professional, and did so many times without the benefit of looking at the target. Nash averaged 10+ assists per game in seven separate seasons, and many of those dimes were dished at the limits of human comprehension.

Yes, let’s focus on the good times. Enough about the bad and the ugly, enough about the rumors that the Lakers wanted Nash to hide his intentions of retiring so that Los Angeles could increase Nash’s trade value. I want to remember the Nash of the 2000s, the way Nash ran Mike D’Antoni’s offense at Mach 5, and how Nash made the routine act of passing a basketball look remarkable.

I don’t blame Nash for hanging on too long in the pursuit of financial well-being — we all have that need — I blame myself for not taking even more time to witness this brilliant star before it faded.

Jerry Landry is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow Jerry on Twitter at @Jerry2Landry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.

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