Steve Nash (Photo : REUTERS/LUCY NICHOLSON)
After an NBA career of 19 years, Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers teammate Steve Nash, 41, officially announced his retirement on March 21.
"I will likely never play basketball again," the two-time MVP awardee and eight-time all-star recently wrote on The Players' Tribune, where he is a senior producer.
Over the last three seasons, Nash played in 65 games only due to injuries. The point guard has not played at all this season.
"It's bittersweet," Nash wrote. "I already miss the game deeply, but I'm also really excited to learn to do something else."
With 10,335 assists, Nash is third in NBA history just behind John Stockton and Jason Kidd. Also, he is the best free-throw shooter in NBA history at 90.4 percent, which is very close to Mark Price's record.
As a fast and sharpshooting point guard, Nash changed the NBA game and he will be remembered for his unbelievable prime with the Phoenix Suns, according to Philly.
Having spent 10 seasons in Phoenix during two tenures with the Suns, Nash admitted that "it will always hurt that Phoenix Suns fans didn't get the championship they deserved during our run."
In 2005 and 2006, Nash won the MVP awards of the NBA during a leading stretch as the catalyst for the up-tempo offense of coach Mike D'Antoni.
The Canadian basketball star also became the general manager of Canada's senior national team on May 8, 2012. He announced that the 2014-2015 season would be his final season in July 2014 after suffering from back pain caused by his condition called spondylolisthesis.
Nash and Alejandra Amarilla have twin daughters, Lola and Bella, 10, and a son, Matteo Joel, 4.
