Steve Nash Trade Rumors: 10 Reasons His Trade Value Will Never Be Higher
Emotional roller coasters. A surprise divorce. Drastic cast changes. Sexy new rumors every day.
The world of Days of Our Lives?
Nope. That soap opera is nothing compared to the season of the Phoenix Suns' Steve Nash.
With the Suns' season having just passed the halfway mark and the team clearly showing they are in no danger of June basketball, the central interest in the team has been the "will they or won't they" drama of whether the team with trade the beloved Nash for the second time.
I've made a few cases as to why trading Nash is the only prudent course of action for the team's future, but to date, team management has resoundingly stated that trading Nash is not in their plans.
"To me, the notion of trading away our best player is not the solution," President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby said on January 11th.
Tragic, although far from a new development.
Throughout their history over the last two decades, the Suns have never shown a willingness to engage in a true rebuilding effort that could be tremendously enhanced by the bounty a trade of Nash could bring.
Should they change their minds, they will find that Nash has tremendous value for several reasons...
Carmelo Is Off The Market (For Now)
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Second in attention only to the Miami Heat circus this season has been the Carmelo Anthony saga playing out in Denver.
For months, the Nuggets' star has been the focus of trade rumors that would send him to a new home just in time for him to sign a lucrative maximum deal before the current collective bargaining agreement expires on June 30th.
A deal appeared imminent last week as the Nuggets, Nets and Pistons seemed to nearly have a deal in place, only for it to fall apart.
Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov pulled his team out of the running, stating, "There comes a time when the price is simply too expensive. I am instructing our team to walk away from the deal."
Anthony's removal from the trade market—for the near-term, anyways—could leave Nash as the best player to be had prior to the February 24th deadline.
Leadership
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To be a top flight point guard in the NBA, a player needs more than excellent ball control, court vision or shooting ability. They need to be a great leader.
In terms of leadership, Nash has proven to be the NBA's top floor general over the past few seasons.
Taking over a 29-win team? No problem. Here comes a league-best 62 wins.
Losing the team's top scorer for the season? Eh. How about a second MVP award and a 54-win season?
Dealing with the drama of a failed Shaq trade, rock bottom expectations and a bungled coaching hire fallout? Hello Western Conference Finals, courtesy of your friend Steve Nash.
With Nash at the helm, the teams under his command have always weathered the most dangerous storms the league has to offer.
His leadership and the respect he commands in the locker room are excellent selling points for any potential suitor.
Manageable Contract
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On February 7th, Nash will turn 37 years-old.
Appropriately, his contract reflects both his age and skill.
He's only under contract for one more season at $11,689,062, a very manageable sum given that he's still among the elite players in the league.
His salary is currently not among the top thirty in the league. Can you think of 30 players you'd rather have on your roster and pay a greater salary than Nash and his $11.6 million?
I can't and you can't either.
With the looming labor uncertainty, a team would find the flexibility of a contract with one remaining season very appealing.
The Force
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Steve Nash can use The Force.
It's true. How else can you explain the surge to NBA relevance of Quentin Richardson, Raja Bell, Jared Dudley and Channing Frye (among many others) than the ability of Nash to pull off some Jedi magic?
Great players make those around them better. They make average players into good players. They take good players and make them stars.
Nash has done this time and time again.
Whether it's Bell's transformation from defensive specialist into a three point assassin, Frye finding his never before seen long range shot, Dudley's metamorphosis from grinder to scorer, Nash takes the peripheral players and makes them valuable contributors.
He helped take Amar'e Stoudemire from an unrefined mass of talent to one of the five top post players in the league.
Heck, he even resurrected Grant Hill's career. It's hard to put a price on such a valuable intangible.
He Sells Tickets
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Back in college, I began working for the Suns in 2003, during their disastrous 29-win season.
At that time, I was sometimes tasked with taking a stack of game tickets to school and handing them out to classmates so that they would not go to waste.
Based on the difficulty I encountered getting rid of the tickets, you would have thought I was serving them a court summons.
Fast forward one year and the Suns are the hottest ticket in town. People go there just to be seen. Games are consistently sold out.
What changed?
Steve Nash. Once he signed with the team, he made them into a winner.
With the only major change between the seasons being the introduction of Nash at the point for Stephon Marbury, the Suns rallied to lead the league in wins with 62 and the once doormat U.S. Airways Center was filled to capacity.
Fans love exciting, high-scoring basketball. No one personifies that better than Nash, which is why he is able to put fans in the seats.
Community Minded
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It's long since been cliche to rag on professional athletes, especially those in the NBA, for having a larger rap sheet than a stat sheet.
Such sad circumstances allow the positive community minded work of role models like Steve Nash to shine through.
Nash has always been a very active contributor to charitable causes and set up his own foundation, cleverly named The Steve Nash Foundation, to extend the reach of his generosity.
Whether it's school or hospital visits, celebrity basketball games, filming PSAs to any number of other activities, Nash is one of the true "good guys" in all of sports and is a worthy face to any franchise.
The Looming Lockout
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Throughout the past year, a black cloud has hung over both the NFL and NBA—a lockout.
With their respective collective bargaining agreements each set to expire after the current season and little progress in either league, the very real danger of a prolonged work stoppage is present.
With even the most optimistic NBA sources believing, at best, that a lockout "isn't inevitable", teams may think that there is an urgency to go "all in" for this season with no guarantee of imminent basketball in the future.
With older veterans like Nash, the loss of a season could be crucial, so the desire to contend for a ring may be at it's zenith.
With that in mind, a team may factor that in to a decision to acquire Nash for a last hurrah before the uncertain summer.
Mikhail Prokhorov Syndrome
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Who's going to tell a Russian billionaire who made his riches under allegations of "questionable" legality along with supposed KGB and mob ties that he can't do something?
Not me.
Since Mikhail Prokhorov purchased the New Jersey Nets, he's made it clear that no expense will be spared in fashioning the Nets as a recognizable worldwide sport entity.
Operating in the mold of a Mark Cuban, Prohkorov isn't afraid to ruffle feathers or act with fiscal prudence.
His pursuit of a superstar player fell short with both LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, so the question is now who his next target will be.
Could the freewheeling ways of the Prokhorovs, Cubans and the Miami Heat of the league led to a superstar arms race? Could it led to Nash being acquired as a Plan B or C?
You can't say nyet to the possibility.
Just A Piece Away
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Who is the best team in the NBA?
Spurs? Heat? Lakers? Celtics? Mavs? Bulls? Magic?
Having so many options clearly indicates that we just don't know. That uncertainty is what gives numerous teams and their fans (Phoenix among the excluded) that have title hopes.
The levels of legitimacy to those hopes surely vary but there are certainly numerous general managers of middle of the pack teams that feel that they are one star away from a championship run.
Nash could very well be that difference maker to a team like the Knicks.
Is the mortgaging of the future worth a true chance at the present? It's a question that will be hotly debated in the coming weeks.
The Old Man Still Got Game
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Let's face it: All of the previous nine reasons mean nothing if the guy can't play when he's on the court.
However, even with the big 3-7 just weeks away, Steve Nash is still unquestionably an elite NBA point guard.
Nash still ranks second in the league in assists at 10.9 and is putting up 17 points per game on 52.3 percent shooting.
His stats this season are nearly identical and in some cases better than his numbers over his previous three seasons.
When you factor in that he is playing with an overhauled and maddeningly inconsistent supporting cast that is devoid of any true star-caliber talent, his performance is nothing short of extraordinary.
Perhaps it's all that Vitamin Water he drinks but Nash appears to have at least two to three All-Star caliber level seasons in him. Which at the end of the day means a lot more than anything else.
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