Jeremy Lin’s Big Break: Steve Nash Out For The Season For The Los Angeles Lakers

The battle for the Los Angeles Lakers’ starting point guard spot has just been won by Jeremy Lin and he won it via no-contest as the franchise announced that veteran Steve Nash will be out for the 2014-2015 NBA Season because of a recurring back injury.

The unfortunate turn of events was sort of unexpected as the 40-year-old Nash was at least pegged to see spot minutes at the Lakers PG spot either as a starter or a back-up. Rather, the 19-year-veteran will now sit out the rest of year and perhaps, his career.

“Being on the court this season has been my top priority and it is disappointing to not be able to do that right now. I work very hard to stay healthy and unfortunately my recent setback makes performing at full capacity difficult.” Nash said via the team’s official website. “I will continue to support my team during this period of rest, and will focus on my long-term health.”

One way of showing support for the Lakers franchise is for Nash to continue mentoring younger PGs in the line-up like Jeremy Lin and rookie Jeremy Clarkson. Lin was acquired in a trade via the Houston Rockets in the 2014 offseason while Clarkson was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2014 NBA Draft.

Nash was originally drafted but the Phoenix Suns as the 15th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft— roughly two decades ago— and played there in his first two years in the league. The popular Canadian, who is considered a hero in his country, was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998 and formed a dynamic duo with Dirk Nowitzki in leading the Mavericks to multiple playoff appearances and becoming one of the most exciting teams in the league during those years.

Nash left Dallas in 2004 in a highly-publicised break-up between him and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Nash returned to the Phoenix Suns for the 2004-2005 season and reinvigorated his career by leading the “Seven Second or Less” (SSOL)-Suns, owing to their run-and-gun, fast-paced style of play, to more postseason battles.

Nash signed a three-year $27.9 million contract with the Lakers in 2012 but has largely been useless for the Hollywood team playing in just 65 games the past two seasons or missing 99 of the total 164 games. Nash averaged 6.8 points and 5.7 assists per game for the Lakers in 2013-2014— his lowest since his first three years in the league.

Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchack was also saddened by the latest development.

“As disappointed as we are for ourselves and our fans, we’re even more disappointed for Steve. We know how hard he’s worked the last two years to try to get his body right for the rigors of the NBA, and how badly he wants to play, but unfortunately he simply hasn’t been able to get there up to this point in time. Steve has been a consummate professional, and we greatly appreciate his efforts,” Kupchack said in the same Lakers press release.

The Lakers will now try to move forward and identify their starting point guard with Nash’s absence and by default, it will go to Jeremy Lin. The wildly popular American-Asian player in Lin has shown flashes of brilliance when shoved to the spotlight since “Linsanity” exploded years ago in New York. With the Houston Rockets last year, Lin averaged 12.5 points and 4.1 assists per game

Backing-up Lin in the point guard position are Clarkson and Ronnie Price.

The Los Angeles Lakers are already hard-pressed to bounce back from one of their worst seasons in franchise history; without Steve Nash, they lost a capable court general who could run the team well if he was healthy. Rather, the Lakers will now roll the dice with Jeremy Lin and hoping that he can run the ship as well as Steve Nash.