NBA
NBA Rumors: Nash Likely Retiring After Season
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated30 Oct 2023
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Bryant is trying to return to top form, he is highly motivated by critics and those who doubt him. Nash is less concerned about those sorts of things.
“For me, this is my last year of basketball, most likely,” Nash said. “So I’m not putting any pressure on myself other than to enjoy and to work as hard as I can. … To enjoy it for the last time is the goal.”
Then he will ride into the sunset.
This isn’t a big surprise, considering Steve Nash will be 41 years old in February and this is his 19th season in the NBA. Injuries have limited Nash in recent years, particularly last season when he was only able to play in 15 games and average 6.8 points and 5.7 assists.
Nash will earn $9,701,000 this season and then his contract will expire next summer, and he says he will likely walk away from the game at that point.
Nash was pretty candid in March when he stated that the only reason he was returning for the 2014-15 season rather than retiring was because of the money he was owed from the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I’m not going to retire because I want the money,” Nash said in a video interview with Grantland. “It’s honest. We want honest athletes, but at the same time, you’re going to have people out there saying ‘He’s so greedy. He’s made x amount of money and he has to take this last little bit.’ Yes, I do, have to take that last little bit. I’m sorry if that is frustrating to some but if they were in my shoes they would do exactly the same thing.”
Nobody can blame Nash for taking the money. He could probably sign another deal as a free agent next summer (for significantly less money) if he wanted to, but it’s far more likely that Nash will retire and remain in Los Angeles to stay with his children.
If Nash does retire after this season, it will be the end of a fantastic career. Throughout his 19 years in the league, Nash was named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player twice, was the NBA’s assists leader five times, was named to the All-NBA Team seven times and was selected as an All-Star eight times.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle apologized to Chandler Parsons for publicly criticizing the team’s prized, free-agent addition’s weight and conditioning after Friday night’s preseason game.
“It was unfair and inappropriate to single out Chandler Parsons after the game Friday night,” Carlisle wrote in a statement issued Sunday afternoon. “I have apologized to him and the entire team for this error in judgment. Not only is Chandler Parsons one of our best players, he is also one of our hardest working players and the kind of high-character person we strive to bring to our city and franchise.
“I also made it clear to our players and staff this morning that this type of bad example is not acceptable and beneath the dignity of a championship organization like the Dallas Mavericks.”
Since the start of training camp, Rick Carlisle called out Chandler Parsons a number of times for being overweight, which caused some friction between the head coach and player. Parsons reported to Mavericks training camp at 235 lbs. after being listed at 215 lbs. in his three seasons in Houston.
On Friday, Carlisle said that Parsons looked “tired” and “heavy-legged” and added that “an increase of 18 to 20 pounds is just too much.” Parsons disagreed with his coach’s assessment and even went so far as to post a shirtless picture on Instagram to show his slim body (and sarcastically include a pig emoji).
Now, it seems that Carlisle and Parsons want to put this behind them. Carlisle apologized to Parsons and then issued the above statement on Sunday afternoon. He offered some praise of Parsons and said that he regrets making the comments.
Parsons seemed to forgive his coach, telling ESPNDallas.com: “It just shows what kind of guy he is. We’re in this together. Everybody makes mistakes, and he came to me as a man. We have a great relationship. It’s in the past, and we’re going to move forward. It’s over with.”
Dallas signed Parsons to a three-year, $46 million contract over the offseason.
Boston Celtics are considering waiving Brazilian big-man Vitor Faverani, sources told Sportando. Faverani is still recovering from a knee injury and his condition remains uncertain.
Celtics currently have 16 players under contract and they need to cut one player before the start of the regular season.
via Orazio Cauchi of Sportando
If this report is correct, Vitor Faverani could be the odd man out as the Boston Celtics trim their roster in preparation for the regular season.
Faverani injured his left knee and he may need surgery to repair it. He recently returned to Spain to get a second opinion on his knee and his status is uncertain.
The 26-year-old was due to make $2,090,000 this season, and potentially $2,180,000 next season although his 2015-16 salary was non-guaranteed.
Last season, as a rookie, Faverani averaged 4.4 points and 3.5 rebounds in 37 games with the Celtics.
