The Los Angeles Lakers have been hit hard by the injury bug especially in the guard department. Steve Blake, Jordan Farmar, Kobe Bryant, Xavier Henry and Steve Nash have all gone down. Nash most notably has missed the most time and things have looked bleek with reports of a possible medical retirement. Nash however is eyeing a return as soon as next month but notes that it won’t be easy.
From Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles:
The way Steve Nash sees it, if the next time he suits up for the Los Angeles Lakers goes south because of the chronic nerve issues in his back and hamstrings, it could be the last basketball he plays in his illustrious 18-year career.
With that in mind, Nash is making sure he does as much as possible to get his body right before making what could be his final comeback attempt as an NBA player.
“At some point, I have to also realize, do the safest thing, the best possible opportunity to play basketball again rather than letting my angst get the better of me and jumping back in there,” Nash said after the Lakers’ shootaround Friday. “I know I can get healthy. It’s a matter of, ‘Can I sustain it?’ And I’m just trying to get that health under my belt for an amount of time where we feel confident that it can be sustainable is the tricky part, and that’s probably going to take a little while longer than I was hoping.”
Nash will skip the team’s upcoming seven-game road trip, and hopes to be back the first week of February. But it’s far from guaranteed.
“It’s all super speculative at this point because it’s such a weird, tricky dimension when you’re talking about this nerve issue,” Nash said.
