Steve Nash (Keith Allison, Wikimedia Commons)
The greatest Canadian basketball player ever, and one of Canada’s greatest athletes ever is joining one of the most successful franchises in basketball history.
It was confirmed tonight that the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Steve Nash from the Phoenix Suns for four draft picks–two first round picks and two second round picks over the next three years. They then signed Nash to a three year deal worth $25 million).
Nash is still one of the best point guards in basketball today and now can pass the ball frequently to Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Oh yeah, and he still had a free throw percentage of .894.
The biggest losers in today’s decision by Nash was clearly the Toronto Raptors who acquired restricted free agent Landry Fields this week in an attempt to block a possible trade between the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns. The move backfired because at the end of the day I think Nash realized the Raptors weren’t that much in a better position than the Suns, and at his age, he clearly has a small window of time to win a Championship.
The Raptors are now stuck with Fields, who they overpaid for at $20 million over three years.
The other major reason why Nash chose Los Angeles was for family reasons. He has three kids from a previous marriage who live in southern California. The Nash signing also came down to family over money (Raptors offered three years, $36 million).
The Raptors missed out on Nash. Now GM Bryan Colangelo will have to look elsewhere in order to improve his basketball club this season.
Tags: andrew bynum, Kobe Bryant, landry fields, los angeles lakers, New York Knicks, pau gasol, phoenix suns, Steve Nash
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