Steve Nash's Loyalty To the Phoenix Suns

Steve Nash never wanted to hear about his name being part of trade discussions. He never wants to flirt about the thought of playing on another team or winning a championship. He has done that before with the Dallas Mavericks and came back empty-handed.

Phoenix would always be his home, city and comfort zone. A place he built his dreams around and a place where he will have his number retired. There is still a lot of work to be done, and it's hard to let a lot of promising potential on a young roster go. They are just three wins away from the Western Conference's eighth spot in the playoffs. This is not the time to give up. Nash knows the race is still not won, and he will take this team to where he could get them: Back to the playoffs, and back to winning games.

Losing Amar'e Stoudemire last summer proved to be one of the deepest holes the Suns tried to cover. It’s hard to find a double-double guy who provides the team’s defensive presence, and at the same time, a scoring threat. But it wasn’t a question about loyalty, it was just a case of Amare asking for a guaranteed contract without conditions and strings attached. Amare could have stayed with Nash. However, he would never know how to run a team like he is doing now with the Knicks.

Steve Nash values loyalty a lot, a trait that influences everybody in the team, like Grant Hill, who signed an extension even though other teams offered him more lucrative contracts. It is not all about winning, and legacies are built not by who you are, but how many lives you have touched.

As far as Steve Nash is concerned, the season is still young and anything can still happen. They are an explosive team with Vince Carter and Grant Hill. Getting traded is the last thing on Steve’s mind. This is a new challenge, a test of his leadership, and going out means going the easy way. It’s not what Nash wanted; it’s not how he was brought up.

President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby has said that Nash is "the sun, the moon and the stars" of the franchise. Nash only responded with a smile, because long before he was the sun, the moon and the stars, Phoenix was already his world.

You can also visit my website, the Sports Alchemist, for more sports stories.