Fear is driving Suns’ reluctance to trade Steve Nash

“Unless something dramatic has changed, from everything
that I know, Steve is not planning to be back with Phoenix
next season” – Ric Bucher, ESPN NBA insider on Arizona
Sports 620’s Doug and Wolf.

So you’re saying Steve Nash is not going to re-sign
with the Suns when his contract expires? Why wouldn’t a
38-year-old former league MVP want to spend his final
seasons with a team that has zero chance of winning an NBA
championship, which just so happens to be the only thing
Nash has yet to accomplish in his Hall of Fame career?

With the NBA’s trade deadline just a couple weeks away,
the team has done all it can to put any talk of trading
Steve Nash somewhere to bed. Suns president of
basketball operations Lon Babby has told anyone who will
listen that the team will not move Nash unless he asks to
be dealt, and since there’s been on indication of that
happening, no trade will be consummated.

Nash has talked about loyalty to his teammates and the
Suns organization, and Babby has cited the same reason as
for why the team won’t actively pursue a deal, and that
sounds all well and good.

But I’m going to submit another reason for why the team
won’t make a deal: fear.

The Phoenix Suns are afraid to trade Steve Nash.

It’s no secret Nash is one of the most revered players in
Suns history, and one who can still play at a high level.
He’s the voice and face of the Suns, and, as Babby has
dubbed him, the sun, moon and stars of the franchise.
As such you don’t ship a player like that out without some
serious thought behind the move.

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