Steve Nash sees himself playing longer, still not on market

NBA ORLANDO—Suns point guard Steve Nash just turned 38, which, for most players, would mean the second or third year of a comfortable retirement. Instead, Nash spent part of Friday afternoon perched on a stage here, talking about his NBA future—a future that, considering he is averaging 13.9 points and a league-high 10.9 assists, he can imagine going on for at least two more years.

“We’ll see,” Nash said when asked how many years he had left. “I really don’t know. You can’t predict Father Time. But I still feel capable. I would like to think next year I can play the same way and I can be capable the year after. But at this stage, it is hard to look three, four, five years down the road. But I could still play a long time.”

Of course, in the early part of the year, there was some question about whether Nash would play out his contract in Phoenix, where he has been since leaving Dallas in 2004. The Suns, with a 14-20 record, are on the wane, and it would make sense for Nash, who is in the last year of his deal, to push the organization to deal him to a contender. It might also make sense for the team to get something in return for Nash ahead of his free agency.

But general managers around the league have said that the Suns are not taking offers for Nash. And Nash—as he has said all year—insists he perfectly happy with that.

“I am happy where I am,” Nash said. “I am not happy with our record but I feel like I owe it to our fans and my teammates. But at the same time, I would understand if the team wanted to make a move. I am completely open and to be honest, I am just trying to occupy myself helping every player on the team play as well as he can.”

In fact, Nash said on Friday that he was not even aware that trade talk about him had been muted recently. It’s just not in his consciousness. “I really don’t know about it,” Nash said. “You could have told me trade talk was on the rise and I would have said, ‘Oh, really?’ I don’t know whether it has died down or what. I have tried to stay oblivious to all the chatter, so I guess it doesn’t matter. I am just trying to concentrate on preparing myself and being the best that I can for my team. Outside of that, especially this season, I don’t have time.”