Report: Cavaliers were interested in Steve Nash

Steve Nash ended months of speculation by announcing his retirement on Saturday, his bad back and 41-year-old body having told him in October that it could no longer sustain the rigors of the NBA.

But had his back and nerve issues subsided, and had Nash been willing to end his career outside of Los Angeles, the future Hall of Famer could have partnered with LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers in one final push for a championship.

Citing league sources, ESPN's Marc Stein reports that the Cavs "let it be known to longtime Nash agent Bill Duffy that they would love to give the old man a whirl as a short-minute backup to Kyrie Irving if Nash wanted to seek a buyout after the trade deadline from whoever had him at that point."

Nash, however, reportedly had no interest in attempting a comeback with any team besides the Lakers, who he signed a three-year contract worth nearly $28 million with as part of a sign-and-trade in 2012, but only played 65 games with over three seasons due to injuries.

Nash even approaching full health would be an upgrade over Cavs' backup Matthew Dellavedova, but hoping for a healthy Nash in 2015 was likely as fruitless as hoping he would leave L.A. for the last few months of his career.

As for Cleveland, with Kyrie and LeBron handling the bulk of ball handling duties and their minutes and usage only set to rise come the postseason, they should be more than fine with the pesky, 39 percent three-point shooting Dellavedova as a fourth guard behind Irving, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert.

Cleveland has won 26 of its last 32 games to skyrocket up the Eastern Conference standings and grab a firm hold of the No. 2 seed. The Cavs clinched their first playoff berth in five years with a victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday.