NBA Free Agents 2012: Steve Nash and Veterans Who Contending Teams Must Pursue

While this year's free agent class certainly can't compare to the one of a couple years ago that featured LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh among others, there are plenty of useful players who will receive a ton of interest. Chief among them are veteran guys who have been around the block and can bring a lot to a team that is in contention.

They may not necessarily be in their prime any longer, and the statistics won't show that they are elite players, but they can often be more important than superstars when it comes to winning a championship. These glue guys are going to be in very high demand over the next few months, and teams on the brink of contending for a title will do whatever it takes to land them.

Here are three veteran free agents that teams in the title hunt must pursue and attempt to sign depending upon their positional needs.

Steve Nash

After spending the past eight seasons with the Phoenix Suns and winning two MVP awards in the process, it appears as though point guard Steve Nash is ready to move on.

The slick-passing Canadian has been one of the best assist men in the league for more than a decade, but with the Suns seemingly going into a rebuild mode, it is time for him to go elsewhere. Since 2004-05, Nash has one season where he averaged less than 10 assists per game, and that was in 2008-09 when he missed it by a hair at 9.7.

Nash's scoring has declined, but he is as good of a distributor as he has ever been. Teams like the Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks could all benefit from him in a big way as he can feed their array of stars. Nash has yet to win a title in his illustrious career, so all of those destinations would likely be attractive to him.

He is a great passer, a capable three-point shooter and great free-throw shooter, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him get his ring next year as he can push a team over the top.

Kevin Garnett

There has been some talk that former Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett might retire, but after having a strong 2011-12 season, I have to believe that we will see him somewhere this coming year.

Garnett looked revitalized in the second half of this season as he played a lot of center for the Celtics and ended up with impressive averages of 15.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. KG is never going to be a 20-and-12 guy like he was routinely for the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he is a player who has a championship and brings a winning attitude to the table.

Garnett is 36 years old, and he undoubtedly wants another title before his career is all said and done. There are a number of contending teams that he can help with his rebounding and versatile offensive game. He is still a pain for interior defenders to cover due to his ability to step out and hit the mid-range jumper.

The Celtics would probably like to bring him back, but failing that I could certainly see the Lakers trading Pau Gasol for a point guard and then snapping up Garnett to possibly lead Kobe Bryant back to prominence.

Jason Terry

Over the past several years, Dallas Maverick guard Jason Terry has consistently been one of the best sixth men in the league. He has been an explosive scorer off the bench as he has averaged at least 15 points per game in every season since 2005-06.

His scoring was down a bit this season as the Mavs struggled as a team, but he actually had one of his best seasons from beyond the arc as he nailed 2.2 per game from downtown and hit them at nearly a 38-percent clip. Those are things that would certainly appeal to a contending team.

Terry was a big reason why the Mavericks were able to win the NBA Championship last year as he put up over 17.5 points per contest.

Terry is a bit of a tweener in that he has point guard size, but is certainly a shooting guard above all else. Because of that, and the fact that he is 34 years old, he probably shouldn't start. Yet he could be a major contributor in his current role for a team in contention, like the Chicago Bulls, who could use a big-time shooter next to Derrick Rose when he returns from injury.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter