Two-time NBA most valuable player Steve Nash, one of the best point guards ever to play professional basketball, is retiring after a 19-year career, the Canadian said on Saturday.
The future Hall of Famer, a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, made the announcement in a letter published on The Players’ Tribune Web site.
“The greatest gift has been to be completely immersed in my passion and striving for something I loved so much — visualizing a ladder, climbing up to my heroes,” the 41-year-old Nash said.
An eight-time All-Star, Nash finished his career with 10,335 assists, the third most in NBA history.
His retirement was in many ways a mere formality, as the point guard, beset by back problems, had been unable to play this season with the Lakers.
After a standout career with the Phoenix Suns, where he won MVP honors in 2005 and 2006, Nash had struggled in Los Angeles due to injuries, playing in only 65 games.
“When I signed with the Lakers, I had big dreams of lifting the fans up and lighting this city on fire,” said Nash, who signed a three-year, US$28 million deal with the franchise in 2012.
“I turned down more lucrative offers to come to LA because I wanted to be in the ‘fire,’ and play for high risk and high reward in my last NBA chapter. In my second game here, I broke my leg and nothing was the same.”
A standout at Santa Clara University in California after attending high school in British Columbia, Nash was a first-round draft choice of the Suns in 1996. He played two seasons with Phoenix and six with the Dallas Mavericks before returning to the Suns for the 2004-2005 season.
Only John Stockton and Jason Kidd had more assists than Nash, who for nine consecutive seasons was the point guard for the No. 1 offense in the league.
Nash averaged 14.3 points and 8.5 assists for his career. He also was the most accurate free-throw shooter in NBA history, making 90.4 percent of his attempts.
“I will likely never play basketball again,” he wrote. “It’s bittersweet. I already miss the game deeply, but I’m also really excited to learn to do something else.”
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