After not playing for nearly three months, Steve Nash made his return during the Los Angeles Lakers’ three-game road trip. While most wanted Nash to actually retire rather than attempt to come back, the former two-time MVP surprised most as he played extremely well. In two games, Nash averaged 13.0 points and 7.0 assists in 26.5 minutes.
While Nash hopes he can sustain this level of play for the rest of the season, the New York Daily News’ Mitch Lawrence is reporting that Nash has already told friends that this is his last season:
“Steve Nash finally made it back to the Lakers and has told a few friends this is going to be it, even though he has one season to go on his contract, at $9.7 million. Nash, who turned 40 Friday, doesn’t expect to help much, but that’s been the story of his injury-plagued Laker career. He really missed the camaraderie with his teammates when he was out for three months with a nerve injury in his back, and says he wants to experience that for at least the last part of this season before he calls it a career.”
While Nash could have easily retired after 10 months of dealing with numerous injuries, he worked extremely hard with his Canadian trainer to give himself a chance. Through two games, Nash has shown that he is able to play at a fairly high-level, but it is going to be a question mark for the remainder of the season.
For a player who will surely be a future Hall-of-Farmer when his playing days are over, Nash clearly wants to try to end his career on a high note. Despite all the skepticism he has had to endure over the past three months, we can only hope that Nash can leave the game the way he wants to.
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