Suddenly everybody wants to talk about where Steve Nash is going to end up, he is second on the “most discussed trade” hit parade, right behind Carmelo Anthony, and everyone is speculating about an end destination.
How about Phoenix?
For all the talk, there are a number of reasons that the Suns are just not likely to move Nash at all. At least not this year, maybe not ever. That list starts with they don’t really want to — look at Alvin Gentry’s quote today (via the twitter account of Paul Coro from the Arizona Republic).
There’s a lot of Nash chatter out there, but none of it is emanating from Phoenix. It’s front office, media and fans outside Arizona salivating at the thought of how Nash can help them. And you can see the logic because if the Suns are out of contention in the West they should get something for Nash while they can.
But the Suns just signed Nash to an extension, he is the face of the franchise. They are not just going to jettison him because they are having a slow start to the season — or even if that start continues. To trade Nash is to commit fully and totally to rebuilding, and while you may think the Suns should do that they will say they made it to the Western Conference finals last season, that this team is still coming together and it is too soon.
Even if the Suns do change their mind and decide to trade him, it’s not that easy. Zach Lowe over at the Point Forward lays out a litany of reasons.
For one, Nash is 37 with a history of back trouble — he’s still an elite point guard but there are risks. Because of those he is only going to a team that thinks they can win it all right now. The pool of teams that should really flip assets for him and a run at it all is not that large.
Then the question is what are you going to give the Suns — if they trade Nash then they would let Jefferson go at the end of the season and so they would already have plenty of salary cap space. The Suns will want players and picks, not just expiring deals.
What potentially contending teams is out there that has young assets to trade and doesn’t already have a quality point guard? Nash is a bad fit with the Lakers, the Celtics don’t need him, Miami doesn’t have the assets nor do they want to take the ball out of Wade and LeBron’s hands. The best fit for Nash might be Atlanta — finally they would finally run more — but you’re going to have to do better than just Marvin Williams to make it happen. Josh Smith? That’s a steep price.
If you’re not a contending team with Nash, what’s the point? He’s going to walk away from the game in a couple more years and when he leaves you will have lost him and some young talent sent away to get him. If you’re flipping young prospects you need to be all in for the now.
Knicks fans, what do you really have to offer? Raymond Felton, the bloated Eddie Curry contract the Suns don’t really need and Gallinari? That’s going to inspire them?
As Lowe points out, if you’re the Suns and you are going to go all in on rebuilding, then they are going to make you take the Hedo Turkoglu contract on as the price for getting Nash. That is the bad contract they want to shed. So, if you have to give up more pieces to get Hedo and watch him float through games, is it still worth trading the assets for Nash?
More likely? Nash retires a Sun. A trade would not be a shock, but first the Suns need to decide they want o do it then someone has to blow them away with an offer. And that combo just seems very unlikely.