NBA Trade Rumors: Why the Phoenix Suns Trading Steve Nash Makes Sense for All

The Phoenix Suns are in trouble. Last season's western conference runner up is just 14-18 through a third of the season and on the outside looking in.

Phoenix is currently 11th in the west and 2.5 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot. The Suns also sport a minus two-point point differential, and a ghastly 6-11 road record.

Perhaps the most disturbing figure is Phoenix's recent trend. The Suns' have lost nine of their last 12 games and are in serious danger of not being in contention out west.

After all, five of their next seven games come against winning teams.

Last month's blockbuster deal, which featured the Suns and the Magic practically trading rosters in a six-player trade, has done little to rejuvenate Phoenix.

The Suns are just 1-4 in five games with the new faces.

At this point it would seem that the chemistry Phoenix generated a season ago is all but gone, while Steve Nash and Grant Hill carry the load each and every night without much help.

Which brings us to the star of this whole show. Steve Nash.

The two-time MVP is having a stellar season thus far, averaging a double-double with a losing team.

However Nash is 36 years-old and not getting any younger. Combine this realization with the fact that the Suns are one more trade away from being in full on rebuilding mode, and what does it add up to?

The simple fact that both Nash and the Suns' franchise are holding each other hostage.

As arguably the franchise's most beloved player, Nash deserves a shot at a title, and that won't be the case as long as he is a Sun.

The Suns need to rebuild, but the process will never begin as long as Nash is in Phoenix.

Both of these facts cement the case that Nash needs out of the desert.

His contract along with a tag-along contract (Josh Childress), would free up some cap space for Phoenix and allow them to build around their young talent (Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, Channing Frye, and Robin Lopez).

The mindset in Phoenix has changed and the Suns no longer have an identity.

A team that used to thrive in the open floor with athletes like Shawn Marion and Amar'e Stoudemire has been turned into a half court team struggling to play off of a pick and roll threat that isn't there.

The bottom line is that one can not rebuild with a 36, going on 37 year-old point guard. And that same point guard can not compete for a championship with a 14-18 lottery-bound team.

Patrick Clarke is a student at Towson University and a writing intern for Bleacher Report.