Steve Nash says back is fine, plans to play three more years

Despite a report that said Steve Nash’s back is as “bad as it has ever been,” the Suns point guard says his back is actually the “best it’s felt in a decade” and that he plans on playing another three seasons, whether that’s in Phoenix or elsewhere.

"It's been my best year physically from start to finish in a long time," Nash told, "Other than a little tweak (last week) against San Antonio, my back's been pretty close to 100 percent."
The New York Post reported Tuesday that Nash’s back was in bad shape and pointed to his low number of shot attempts as evidence. Before Tuesday night’s game against the Kings—when Nash shot 7-for-12—he had taken more than eight shots just once over the previous ten games. Besides an 8-for-16 performance March 27 against the Spurs, he had taken a total of 44 shots over the other nine games, making 20 of them, The Post noted.

Nash said he is looking to pass rather than shoot because he’s the focus of the opposition’s defense since the Suns don’t have any real scoring threats. Marcin Gortat leads the Suns in scoring with 16.1 points per game.

"Maybe I could be more aggressive looking for my shot, but every team we play traps me (frequently) or (jumps) out hard at me on the pick-and-roll," Nash told ESPN. "So my thinking is, 'Get it out of my hands as fast as possible and it's four on three or three on two for my teammates.' It seems to be working. We've been playing a lot better (since the All-Star break). I'm not just going to be forcing up shots to improve my numbers."

The numbers support Nash’s position. The Suns were 14-20 before the All-Star break and are 13-6 since. Also, Nash leads the league in assists with 11.3 per game, and while his shot attempts are down, he’s making a career best 53.8 percent of them. Plus, the 38-year old has missed just four games this season.