........Once again Nash walked....everyone seems to forget that, he CHOSE to leave....... Originally Posted by Azzbakwerdz
Yeah, he walked all right. However....
......only after Cuban gave him little to no choice in the matter. Could Steve Nash have stayed with the Mavs and shunned Phoenix's offer? Of course he could have. But the critics would have come out of the floorboards and absolutely killed him for making such a decision.
For the record, Nash was never offered an extension during the '03 - '04 season by the Mavs. Nash opted out at the end of the season and became a free agent (however) he remained steadfast in his desire to stay in Dallas.
Phoenix stepped up and made him a six-yr $63 million dollar offer. Nash and his agent took it back to Cuban, who refused to match (sticking with his original offer of 4 yrs @ $9m per). Cuban was absolutely certain the 30-yr old Nash was on the decline. And as we all know, that assessment was dead wrong.......Nash went to improve on his career numbers to win two league MVP awards (and be a runner-up to Dirk in a third year).