With the regular season about to start, rumblings among Lakers staff and players are starting to surface. Pau Gasol voiced concern after Nash sat out the second half of a preseason game against the Utah Jazz, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com:
“Steve hasn't been able to complete a practice yet, so that's the bigger issue,” Gasol said of Nash, who is averaging just 3.5 points and 3.5 assists in 16.7 minutes per game in the preseason, sitting out one of the exhibition games altogether. "I'm a little bit concerned because I want him to be healthy, I want him to play and I want him to do well. I want him to help us. I hope that he can.”
The essential question, obviously, is will the continuing fragile health of the league's oldest player doom the team's season before it even begins? That seems a bit of a stretch. It may, however, be part and parcel to an overall issue of age.
Nash, Kobe Bryant and Gasol represent the Lakers' nucleus. Bryant, of course, is coming off a devastating injury. Nobody knows when he'll return or what that will look like. Pau Gasol had a double knee procedure this summer. Put together, these three guys have 51 years in the league.
Steve Nash's health concerns are not new. The future Hall of Famer was plagued by back issues throughout his long tenure with the Phoenix Suns. Fortunately, that team's legendary training staff managed to keep the star point guard mostly on court. Those were the glory years for Nash. He racked up two MVP awards. He was a human highlight reel.
