Nash on his way out of Phoenix?

Former San Antonio Spurs foil Steve Nash is a free agent at the end of this season and the Suns, for lack of a better word, stink.  Fans, media members and bloggers alike have called for Phoenix to trade him, but they have refused because Nash hasn’t asked and owner Robert Sarver knows that trading Nash would be trading away his meal ticket.

Since Nash is going to be a free agent this summer and the Suns think they might lose him and get nothing in return, reports have surfaced that they are at least open to the idea of trading him.  Sam Amick with SI.com reports that one executive whose team is interested in Nash says the Suns are closer than ever to trading the former two-time MVP.  Nash acknowledges that a trade could happen, but says he’s not really thinking about.

“I have no idea what the club will eventually do if a bunch of offers are thrown in their face,” Nash said, “but I feel like I’m not nervous about [the trade deadline] and I’m not thinking about — what’s the word? — I’m not anticipating anything to happen. I feel like I made a commitment and I feel like I owe it to my teammates — the city, the fans, the club — to play it out and to play as hard as I can.”

Kudos to Steve Nash for being in a worse situation than Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and even my beloved Chris Paul and sticking to the contract he signed.  He very easily could have said “trade me” by now, but hasn’t even if it means he’s losing a shot at playing for a contender. 

The problem for the Suns is who is going to trade for Nash unless they know they sign him to an extension for a year or two.  I think teams also might be hesitant to trade for him because they think he’s going to New York next season to reunite with Mike D’Antoni.  The Knicks have no cap space so they can only use the Mid-Level Exception to sign him, which they may have to use to keep Jeremy Lin (picking Lin over Nash would be the height of lunacy, by the way).

I was going to troll Spurs fans by saying the team should offer Tony Parker for Steve Nash, but I’ll save it.  I think Portland would be a good landing spot for him.  Same with a team like Indiana, but that would almost certainly be a three month rental.  And obviously getting Nash would be big for Orlando if they really think they can keep Dwight Howard.