Lakers: Five superstars the Lakers acquired past their prime
By Jason Reed
Steve Nash (2012-2014)
Steve Nash is the only NBA player in history to come out of South Africa and will go down as the best point guard of the 2000s and one of the best point guards in NBA history. Nash won two MVP awards, was elected to eight all-star teams and seven All-NBA teams. Only Jason Kidd and John Stockton have more assists than Nash as he led the league six times before joining LA.
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Nash started his career with the Phoenix Suns only to be traded to the Dallas Mavericks where he spent six seasons. Following his sixth season, Nash re-signed with the Suns and would play in Phoenix until joining the Lakers in 2012. At the time of joining the Lakers, Nash was a 16-year veteran.
Because of his age, nobody really expected Nash to be the superstar player he once was. Although he did lead the league in assists in 2011-2012, Nash was considerably slower and his scoring came at a much lower rate.
Still, Nash’s performance as a Laker was nothing short of disappointing. In two seasons with the Lakers Nash played just 65 games due to injury. For someone who had not missed more than ten games for 12 seasons, this was perhaps the last thing Laker fans expected.
In his short time on the court with the Lakers, Nash was okay. He averaged 11.4 points and 6.4 assists per game. Not terrible stats, but definitely still worse than he could have done if he remained healthy.
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Just imagine if the Lakers could have signed Nash in the 2004 offseason to play alongside Kobe. Los Angeles likely would have one at least two or three more championships, which would have given Kobe Bryant the edge in championships over Michael Jordan.