Steve Nash softens stance on retirement, could return based on 'health, enjoyment, effectiveness'
The NBA's elder statesman may not be ready to pass on the torch as the league's oldest player following the season.
As Steve Nash enters his 19th season, he finds himself as the league's lone 40-year-old. He'll be 41 by season's end, and if he plays in the Lakers' final regular season game on April 15, doing so at 41 years and 67 days would make him the oldest active player since Dikembe Mutombo at the end of the 2009 season (42 years, 289 days).
The assumption of many is that Nash will call it quits after the season, something he has admitted to thinking about as recently as late July. His contract is up, and he's struggled with plenty of health issues over the past two seasons.
Now in camp and feeling good - minor ankle tweak aside - Nash is softening that stance. Under a certain set of circumstances, the Canadian may be game for one more spin around the Association.
“My health, enjoyment and effectiveness,” Nash said in an interview with Los Angeles Daily News published Saturday. “If I have a chance to play, it would have to be here. I’m not going to at this stage move somewhere else for a season and move my kids there.”
Health is the big question mark. The nerve issue stemming from a broken leg that has plagued Nash is doing much better, but it's "tenuous," and 40-year-olds are rare in the NBA for a reason. Here's hoping Nash is healthy enough to enjoy the 2014-15 season, whether or not he returns afterward. He deserves to go out on a positive, if he's going out.