Kobe Bryant isn’t the only Los Angeles Lakers star about to face life without basketball. Future Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash recently told SportTV that 2014-2015 would likely be his last season.
Pressed by a reporter on why he was serving as the Canadian National Team’s general manager as opposed to playing for his native country, Nash alluded to the nagging physical toll basketball takes on a player his age.
“I can’t do both anymore. If I play for Canada then I have no chance to play a full season, and I want to just play one more full season. I had to make a decision seven, eight years ago – and I had so much responsibility with the [Phoenix] Suns at the time and had already played 10-plus years in the NBA – that I couldn’t do both because my body couldn’t take it. So I decided to retire internationally.”
When asked whether or not 2014-2015 would be his last season, Nash answered matter-of-factly.
I think this is my last season. But I still love to play, love to practice and work on my game. I’m gonna spend hopefully many, many years living this life without basketball, so it would be nice to play one more year.
Nash has been on the verge of retirement since last season. His daily quest to remain healthy enough to play last season was poignantly chronicled in Grantland’s “The Finish Line,” made it clear his basketball days were numbered. Still, the imminent retirement of one of the game’s greatest players is never easy for league followers.
Just how good was a healthy Nash? The two-time MVP quarterbacked a top-four offensive outfit for 10(!) consecutive seasons.
The days of Nash playing starter-level minutes or even back-to-backs are surely over, but his offensive impact remains supreme whenever he takes the floor. Here’s hoping we see flashes of the unmatched combination of skill and intelligence in his final season that made him one of the league’s greatest point guards ever.
*Statistical support for this post provided by basketball-reference.com
(H/T reddit NBA and Los Angeles Daily News) (Video via SportTV)
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