Steve Nash appeared in just 15 games for the Lakers last season, thanks to a debilitating nerve issue that was unpredictable yet consistently present.
There were legitimate questions about whether or not he’d ever make it back to the court, or if he could do so playing close to the elite level we’ve seen from him in recent seasons.
But the injury that was so crippling seems to have vanished, and for the first time in a long time, Nash said he felt 100 percent this summer -- and perhaps most importantly, didn’t suffer any setbacks.
From Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star:
“I was playing soccer, and I went out there and after a few minutes I said, holy s---,” says Nash, on the phone from Los Angeles. “I’m 100 per cent. Stop, start, change direction, mobility, explosiveness — I could go as hard as I wanted. So the next step was, is this going to sustain itself? Because I was used to the whole ‘hey, something will happen in the next two weeks that will kind of knock you back.’
“And it never really happened. I just kept going all summer. I never really had a setback. And it allowed me to enjoy the summer in a way I couldn’t the previous summer, where I was rehabbing twice a day for five months, basically. I think it took a little pressure off me, and just a little bit of joy, where it’s life-giving, instead of crumbling.”
Nash has looked good in scrimmages early on, but it’s obviously too early to predict whether or not the issue is truly behind him.
With the rigors of the long NBA season just beginning to take their toll, the injury concerns with Nash will remain until he can stay on the court and contribute at a high level on a somewhat regular basis. But things certainly seem to be off to a much more positive start.
