What Do LA Lakers Still Need from Steve Nash?

The Los Angeles Lakers’ awful season makes one wonder what they could possibly still need from Steve Nash.

The Purple and Gold currently reside at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, which means L.A. will more than likely end up in the NBA draft lottery unless they go on some magical and unlikely run (the team would have to go undefeated after the All-Star break) that takes them to the postseason.

Nash has only appeared in 10 games this season due to injury, and he has not played to his usual standards. Still, when healthy, there is little doubt that he look like a good player.

That puts Nash in a tricky spot. He has demonstrated that he can still produce and look really good by virtue of his shooting and playmaking (look at the video below), but an argument could be made that his production harms the Lakers’ shot at a great draft pick.



Nash’s leadership abilities as well as his propensity for making teammates feel part of the big picture are practically worthless on a team that is built for this season only.

 

Future Clouds the Present



Should Steve Nash rejoin the Lakers this season, he will find it incredibly difficult to leave an imprint on a team that has very little interest in the present. If anything, L.A. is concerned about the future of the franchise.

The Lakers arranged their player contracts a few yeas ago to ensure they would have cap room to rebuild through free agency in the 2014 offseason. Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak confirmed this to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com:

Several years ago, we made a conscious decision to line contracts up for this coming year of free agency. If you look at our payroll a year ago, with the exception of Steve Nash, we didn't have anybody under contract (for 2014-15). That didn't have so much to do with who was going to be a free agent in 2014, but more ...

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