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Nash doesn't think he was a 'great fit' on Lakers

Andrew D. Bernstein / National Basketball Association / Getty

When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Steve Nash during the 2012 offseason, he was supposed to be one of the final pieces to their championship puzzle.

Instead, injuries slowed the Hall of Famer during his two seasons with the purple and gold, and Nash isn't sure things would've worked out even if he was healthy.

"I don't think it was a great fit," said Nash on the latest edition of "The Bill Simmons Podcast." "It was a great idea, it was a great opportunity ... I broke my knee in the first or second game, whenever it was. I'm still not the same."

Nash noticed the Lakers' core wasn't the force it used to be, despite the team being just a couple of years removed from back-to-back NBA titles.

To complicate matters, fellow newcomer Dwight Howard was focused on posting up rather than running the pick-and-roll that better suited the Lakers' roster at the time.

"I don't know if his back (was hurting), (but) he didn't want to move around that much, or what," Nash said. "But he wanted to prove that he could play in the post. The unfortunate thing is it was just getting to that era where teams could just cheat in and out of the paint enough that it made it hard (to play that way).

"Anyways, you add it all up, I don't know that it would have ever worked. It was doomed."

Nash averaged 11.4 points and 6.4 assists across 65 appearances for the Lakers before retiring in March 2015. He intended to play out the 2014-15 campaign, but the veteran was ruled out for the season after aggravating his back during the preseason.

Los Angeles was eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs during Nash's first year, and the team stumbled to a 27-55 record during his last NBA season.

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