If you've watched Steve Nash play basketball at all this season, then you've no doubt wondered, "When is this guy going to retire?" He's played very sporadically during the 2013-14 NBA season. And when he has been in the lineup for the Lakers, he's looked like a shell of his former self. Back problems and other health issues have zapped him of a lot of his skills.
However, don't expect Nash to hang up his sneakers this summer. Because even though the Lakers have shut him down for the remainder of the year, Nash will be back next season. It's not necessarily because he wants to be back, though. It's because, well, money.
"It's just a reality," he told Grantland in a recent video documentary. "I'm not going to retire because I want the money. It's honest. We want honest athletes, but at the same time, you're going to have people out there saying, 'He's so greedy. He's made x amount of money and he has to take this last little bit.' Yes, I do have to take that last little bit. I'm sorry if that is frustrating to some, but if they were in my shoes, they would do exactly the same thing."
You can't really blame Nash for being honest. You also can't blame him for sticking around well past his prime to collect a paycheck. But we imagine that this same sentiment would not go over well if, say, Andrew Bynum said it. At any rate, expect to see Steve Nash back and better than ever next season.
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[via Sports Illustrated]
