Raptors Err in Signing Landry Fields as Steve Nash Bait

I have no qualms with the Toronto Raptors offering Steve Nash three years, $36 million, or a contract in that ballpark. The franchise has been rudderless for a long time, and they might as well gamble that Nash's final years will be good ones. 

However, I do have a massive problem with giving Landry Fields a giant contract, just to ensure that Nash chooses Toronto. ESPN's Marc Stein reported that Fields agreed to a $20 million, three-year offer from the Raptors. This, despite Landry shooting less than 26 percent of threes last year. 

The idea isn't to adequately pay Fields—it's to knock the Knicks out of a possible sign-and-trade for Nash. Such a sign-and-trade would require Fields as salary filler. It's no longer an option for New York, so New York is likely no longer an option for Nash. Now, under current salary rules, the Knicks can only offer Steve a contract that would pay him roughly $20 million less than what the Raptors would.

This all sounds like some savvy politicking by Toronto until you pause and remember: They're paying Landry Fields $20 million!

Toronto is still not certain that Nash will sign up north, and this move reveals as much. Toronto always had more money to offer and if Nash wasn't swayed by that in the first place, there's no guarantee that he'll be on board now. This is a signing that admits, "Steve could easily leave us hanging with Landry's contract." 

A bigger money offer should be enough. It's ridiculous for the Raptors to overpay another guy just for the chance that they can overpay Steve Nash.