Veteran Phoenix point guard Steve Nash may have been pushed to the brink of wanting to leave the Suns by his team’s apathetic pursuit of free-agent forward Boris Diaw.
The New York Post’s Peter Vescey reports that that his team didn’t try harder to sign Diaw, a former teammate, after he was bought out of his contract with Charlotte. Instead, Diaw ended up with the Spurs.
Nash and Diaw made a tight connection when they played together with Phoenix from 2005-08. And with the Suns battling for a playoff spot, Nash thought that Diaw was a player who could help get them there.
Nash, a two-time MVP, is an unrestricted free agent after the season. Some of the penurious ways of Phoenix owner Robert Sarver haven’t made Nash happy as the team has been dismantled from one that played for the Western Conference Finals in 2010 but failed to make the playoffs in either of the last two seasons. The Suns are 25-26 and are two games out of the final playoff berth with 15 games to play.
Vescey opines that Diaw might have viewed the Spurs as a better opportunity, as well as a strong confirmation of the Spurs’ willingness to contend for the title this season.
“In that case, there was no future in Phoenix beyond this season, but there is the real possibility of a championship to be won by San Antonio, in addition to a playoff platform for Diaw to improve his stained image,” Vescey wrote.