Suns Trade Steve Nash To LAKERS!!!

[key2win]

Sources -- Steve Nash headed to Los Angeles Lakers in sign-and-trade deal - ESPN Los Angeles

OMG the Lakers are not cheapskates after all. They actually used the Odom trade exception to get someone good. I cant believe they pulled this off. But then again David Stern/Robert Sarver has 1 week to find a way to veto this. LOL! In the end, I think Nash wanted to come to the Lakers and told the Suns owner to do him this favor for his years with the team. Rumors had the Sarver didnt want to deal Nash to a Pacific Division Rival.

In an unforeseen twist that could thrust the Los Angeles Lakers straight back into title contention, two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash has successfully negotiated a sign-and-trade deal from the Phoenix Suns to the Los Angeles Lakers that will team him up with Kobe Bryant, according to sources with knowledge of the deal.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Nash, with the New York Knicks also pressing hard to complete a simiilar sign-and-trade deal, was swayed to join the Lakers after a determined push from Bryant and because the move not only keeps him in the title hunt but will allow Nash to stay in close proximity to his three children in Phoenix.

Nash will receive a three-year deal in excess of $25 million, sources said, because the Suns ultimately agreed to sign-and-trade him to the Lakers, who can absorb Nash via the trade exception they created by dealing Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks in December.

[gladdyontherise]

David Stern approves?

[whitney777]

Nope. Stern wanted him in New Orleans.

[key2win]

Stern has no control over this trade. It has nothing to do with the Hornets. If he somehow vetoes it, the NBAPA will sue him along with the league and get him fired.

[key2win]

Sources -- Steve Nash headed to Los Angeles Lakers in sign-and-trade deal - ESPN Los Angeles

Good Bye Sessions. I could care less about the Lakers' future, those draft picks dont mean anything when you want to win now. They need to win now while Kobe is still on the team. In 2 years time when everyone is a free agent, we can start over at that time. If Nash can convince Grant Hill to sign with the Lakers for $1 million, I can see the Lakers amnestying Artest to save that money.

The Suns will receive 2013 and 2015 first-round picks and 2013 and 2014 second-round picks from the Lakers, according to the Arizona Republic.

The Lakers are no longer trying to retain point guard Ramon Sessions, who opted out of the final year and $4.55 million of his contract to become a free agent, a source told ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne.

Difficult as it is on some levels for the Suns to help the face of the franchise get to the Lakers -- especially after years of playoff battles with them in the Nash Era -- sources say team owner Robert Sarver finally agreed to the trade after yielding to a plea from Nash to send him to a destination where he could maintain the closest possible ties to his children and still chase the ring that has eluded him for 16 seasons.

The Lakers clinched the deal by surrendering the package of picks, but sources said that the Suns did decide to reward Nash for all the success he delivered over the past eight seasons.

The Knicks were equally high on Nash's list in a sign-and-trade scenario -- he's an offseason Manhattan resident -- and the Raptors were initially seen as the favorite for Nash's services after quickly registering a three-year, $36 million offer. The Brooklyn Nets and Mavericks also pursued Nash, Dallas in particular after the Nets won the Deron Williams sweepstakes earlier Tuesday.

Yet, Nash ultimately decided that the chance to team with Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, the three-year deal he had been hoping for, and ability to keep a West Coast base near his children could not be passed up.

Sources told ESPN.com that Nash will try to convince longtime teammate Grant Hill, one of his closest friends in the game, to join him with the Lakers. ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher reported over the weekend the Lakers were one of four teams (along with Toronto, New York and Phoenix) in the running for Hill after the 39-year-old's recent trip to Germany to undergo the same platelet-enrichment treatment on his knee that Bryant credited for his rejuvenated knee last season.

[azdbacks1998]

Nnnooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooo!!!!!!!!

[ocanseco55]

This is a Heartbreaker.. gonna be hard seeing him in a Laker jersey..

[leiber88]

You're correct all those picks will be near the end of the 1st round,so essentially the Suns just assured themselves of never winning the division for the next three years. Had the Lakers not gotten Nash, they would've had to make a deal with one of their core players, now this is the team to beat in the West and matches up real well against the Heat. The Thunder have two more runs in them with their core as Ibaka is leaving for greener pastures

Sources -- Steve Nash headed to Los Angeles Lakers in sign-and-trade deal - ESPN Los Angeles

Good Bye Sessions. I could care less about the Lakers' future, those draft picks dont mean anything when you want to win now. They need to win now while Kobe is still on the team. In 2 years time when everyone is a free agent, we can start over at that time. If Nash can convince Grant Hill to sign with the Lakers for $1 million, I can see the Lakers amnestying Artest to save that money.

[wheeler281]

This still does not make them better then the Thunder. Thunder still will come out of the west. If I am a Suns fan to trade him to the lakers is a slap in my face.

[arod1973]

Mamba and Nash..has a good ring to it...

[key2win]

Steve Nash on Kobe Bryant, Mike Brown, winning titles and much more - Los Angeles Lakers Blog - ESPN Los Angeles

New Lakers point guard Steve Nash -- it's still very much fun to write that -- spoke at length with Max Kellerman and Mychal Thompson on 710 ESPN in Los Angeles this morning. They covered a lot of ground, including the process leading him to Los Angeles from Phoenix and Kobe Bryant's involvement in it, how he thinks he'll mesh with Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, what it would mean to win a title, Dwight Howard, Grant Hill, and more.

Q: Were you surprised at how this developed?

“It was a surprise, for sure. I think it was about 10 days ago I said it would be hard for me to put on a Lakers uniform, so I think for everyone including myself it’s a surprise. Things happen. First and foremost, when the Suns decided to go in a new direction I was obviously looking for new home. Then the opportunity to be close to my kids was so exciting to me and I think you guys would agree basketball-wise it makes a lot of sense.”

Q: How did it happen?

“Mitch [Kupchak] called my agent shortly after midnight on the first, and I’m guessing, but I think the first thing he said was, “I know we’ve had some battles in the playoffs and I hear Steve wouldn’t want to play for the Lakers.” My agent, being an agent, said, “No, that’s not true. That’s all media speculation.” Frankly, the idea to be close to my son and my daughters who will be in Phoenix was the No. 1 priority. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic that I think I’m a good fit for the team, and they have a great team and we’re a contender -- that’s all incredible, too. But as far as getting over the hump and being able to be a Laker after being a Sun and trying to beat the Lakers in the playoffs all those years, the reality was it was too good an opportunity to pass up as far as my children were concerned. Fortunate for me, it’s a great basketball situation.”

Q: It has been widely reported Kobe called to recruit you -- what happened?

“He did. We spoke, I think he was at his basketball camp in Santa Barbara, and gave me a call. For me, it was important to speak to him and make sure he was completely on board, and that he could kind of visualize this as being a good fit, and being excited about it. So I spoke to him, I spoke to coach Brown. They were excited. Kobe, he was great. He was excited, and explained to me how he thought it would help, and why he thought it would be great, and I think a lot of the reasons he had were ones I could already envision before speaking to him.”

Q: What were they?

“I think for one, having someone who could handle the ball and lead. I think he also thought that we’re complimentary leaders. I’m more on the positive side, he’s more, as he said it, cracks the whip. That was complimentary. I think pick and roll, adding that to the offense and being able to space the floor for the big guys inside. I think it’s a good fit. He was excited, and that was important for me. And coach Brown the same. So it’s gonna be fun to work it all out and try to create some cohesion and chemistry on the floor, and make all these pieces work.”

Q: You’re used to a more free-flowing offense in Phoenix. We know Kobe is a ball-dominator. When the ball goes to him, it goes through him a lot. How are you guys going to make that adjustment?

“Kobe is still one of the all-time great players in this game. I hope he does have the ball in his hands a lot. But at the same time, I think it takes pressure off him as someone else can handle the ball, and get him the ball in spots. Maybe get him a few more easy baskets and at the same time maybe create offense for other guys so he’s not stuck so often having to take on one or two defenders. Perhaps we can all make each other better because of our different skills. Maybe I can space the floor for those big guys, maybe they’ll create opportunities for me on pick and rolls because of their length and ability to finish at the rim, and that combination will hopefully make it a little easier for Kobe as well. [There is] a lot of work to do. Right now, we can only speculate and envision, but there’s a lot of work to do and that’s going to be the key to any success.”

Q: At 38 years of age, what’s the ideal amount of minutes for you to be most effective

“That’s a good question. I think in Phoenix one of the big reasons Alvin was sensitive to minutes was because of how much I handled the ball. Our offense was predicated on me creating opportunities for my teammates and myself off pick and rolls, and for eight years that was predominantly our offense. That can take its toll. He didn’t want to wear me out and he tried to be careful in that respect. But I feel like I’m in great shape. I know a lot about my body, and I think I’ve learned a lot over the years to preserve, hopefully, the level of play I’m at now. I’m not worried about minutes. That’s something I can get through, and I’m not really that concerned with.”

Q: You mentioned chasing a championship. Suns are rebuilding, you’ve been a good soldier. LeBron goes to Miami to get one. Everyone is chasing a championship. At this point in your career, what would it mean to win a championship? Can you describe that?

“I don’t know if I can. I think there’s no question that’s why I work hard. I want to be the best player I can so that I can help my team win as many games as I can, and if you were part of a team that won the last game of the season, that’s an indescribable feeling. But I try to get stuck into the day to day, and try to train as hard as I can every day, and be thoughtful in my preparation and in ways to prevent injury and be in the best shape I can be, and hopefully improve on my skill set. I think I want to stick to that. I just want to work every day so that I can be ready, and in the best possible place skill wise and fitness wise for when camp starts, so I can help the team as best I can. If we grow every day as a team and we work and get better and more cohesive, we’re going to have a chance to win a championship.

I don’t want to get too far ahead, and right now I just want to get my training in the right place so when I come in I’ll be in the best possible place to help the team go as far as we can, and I think if you look at the pieces, if we can really find a way to come together, everyone stays healthy, and we play to the best of our abilities, I think we should be in the running.”

Q: We see so many guys through history who have never won a title. How fueled are you by the idea you could be one of those guys? Can you talk to that?

“Believe it or not -- I don’t want to diminish what a championship would mean to me -- but believe it or not, that doesn’t haunt me at all. I don’t care what other people say. I fight every day to be the best player I can. When I played for the Suns or the Mavericks and now the Lakers, I’m going to fight and give everything I can like it’s the only thing that matters. But when I step away from the court, I realize that’s not going to define me. I battle, I compete, I’m a great teammate. Having said that, I’m dying to win one. I want to win one for me, I want to win one for my teammates, whoever they may be, and I’m going to battle every day to do so. But I try not to get caught up in what other people are saying or what people will think when I’m long gone.

If it’s a deterrent, that stuff is out of my hands. What’s in my hands is being in great shape and fighting to be in great shape every day for my team. It’s so all consuming, the championship-or-nothing mentality that everyone has, and especially the media, it’s valid to ask and it’s valid for people to get caught up in that, but I try to shed away a lot that extra baggage and just try to worry about training…. I want to win, I want to win bad. But if I retired today, I wouldn’t be haunted by the fact I never won. I gave it a heck of a shot.”

Q: Mike Brown likes to call a lot of plays. Will you talk to Mike about that?

“First of all, he’s the coach and I want to do what he asks. But I spoke to him and I think he’ll be open to ideas and thoughts, and working together. That’s the great part about the job, is that we all get to work together and find a way to make each other better and find a way to put each other in position to succeed. There’s going to be a balance there, I’m sure. I look forward to it. I think he’s got a reputation as a terrific defensive coach. I look forward to that. I also look forward to working with him with the offense, and seeing how I can hopefully help the offense run more efficiently and help those guys maybe get a little more space on the floor, maybe get a few more opportunities to get easy baskets and put pressure on the defense.”

Q: Who has the best point guard in L.A. right now? The Clippers or Lakers?

“I love Chris Paul. I think he’s, if not the best, top two point guards in the game. Now with Russell and Derrick Rose, they’re like super guards. I’m not sure you can categorize them as point guards. There was a time when I could have made an argument for myself as the best point guard in the game, but I can leave that to some of the other guys now. I still know I can do it at an extremely high level, and I’m still extremely competitive. Let’s hope the Lakers are the best team in L.A., and I won’t worry about who is the best point guard in L.A."

Q: There has been much speculation in town about Dwight Howard. What would be your recruiting pitch to him? What are your thoughts on recruiting him to L.A.?

“He’s a special player, a special talent for sure. So I can understand why the Lakers may be recruiting him. But all I know is that for me to get an opportunity to play with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, that’s amazing. So that would be a pleasure to play with those two players. Frankly, that’s a lot for me to think of right there. I’m not even going to speculate on what could happen with Dwight. As far as basketball goes, it would be thrilling for any point guard to get a chance to play with the two big men that the Lakers have.”

Q: If Dwight called you, what would you tell him?

“As far as recruiting him for the Lakers? Why don’t we wait until I sign my contract and get acquainted to the city and the situation before I start making trades and recruiting players. Like I said, I’m thrilled to play with the players with the ability of Pau and Andrew, and that’s thrilling to me outright. I look forward to making it official, hopefully on the 11th or whenever that day is.”

Q: Wilt wore No. 13, so that’s gone. Retired with the Lakers. What number are you going to wear?

“With all the Lakers jerseys retired, I don’t know what’s left. We’ll figure it out.”

Q: I know you’re saying you’ll let things go as far as the makeup of the team, but you can talk to Grant Hill. You may be trying to talk him into coming here?

“Grant’s an amazing person. He’s a very intelligent, kind, thoughtful person, and he’s still a terrific basketball player. A great athlete, still terrific skill level, and basketball IQ, and just a great teammate. Anyone who gets Grant is going to be way, way in the good for that. It would be great if we get him, and I’ll do anything I can, if the Lakers are open to that, to make it a reality. He makes every team better, he makes everyone around him better, he makes any organization better. He’s a class act, and still a heck of a competitor and player.”

Q: The Western Conference is extremely deep. But the defending conference champs are the Thunder. They’re young and favored to repeat. What are your thoughts on the Thunder, and with your addition to the Lakers how you match up with Oklahoma City?

“They’re a terrific team and they rightfully are the favorites to repeat in the West. We definitely have our work cut out for us if we’re going to be able to compete with them and beat them. But I think there’s a lot of potential in our roster, and I think hopefully I’ll be able to make some, hopefully some positive adjustments to the efficiency and effectiveness of all our guys offensively. Who knows? They’re younger, that’s for sure. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I think that we can find a way to make each other better and improve on the Lakers series with them this past season.”

Q: How are Suns fans taking this news, that you’re now going to be a Laker?
“I’ve had an outpouring of text messages and emails, responses from people thanking me for my eight years here, but there’s no doubt there’s going to be some Suns fans that are devastated and are angry at me, and I understand that. What I want to say about that is I gave everything I had for the Suns, and when the Suns rightfully moved in a different direction that I wasn’t a part of -- that’s a great move, a strong move to cut ties and to be bold and try to bring in fresh, new talent and start the rebuilding process, or retooling process -- I respect that. Robert Sarver really did something fantastic for me and my family to allow me to go to what’s Phoenix’s biggest rival. I’ll always be grateful for that to him, to Suns fans for the incredible support over the eight years, and a lot of success.

The bottom line is, I hate to upset people but my little boy and my two girls mean everything to me, and the opportunity to be able to see them three or four times a month instead of three or four times a season is incredible and priceless. I’m sorry for those that I upset, but my kids come first.”

[key2win]

NBA -- How Steve Nash to Los Angeles Lakers happened - ESPN

NEW YORK -- Parked at a back table at Aurora in SoHo, huddled over Italian food as the clock ticked past midnight, Bill Duffy could have used a second phone. The one in his hand started ringing as though 38-year-old Steve Nash were a 28-year-old free agent.

The calls were coming in so fast that Duffy and Nash didn't even notice that two of the sport's fairly well-known faces were sitting nearby. They didn't spot Steve Lavin and Gene Keady until the celebrated college coaches got up and headed for the door.

"The phone," Duffy said, "was just buzzing."

The calls were coming in so fast because a number of teams out there, after hearing for two seasons straight that the Phoenix Suns couldn't bring themselves to trade Steve Nash, sensed an opportunity. Unlike Deron Williams, undisputed prized catch of the NBA's 2012 free-agent class, Nash wouldn't be limiting himself to a choice between two destinations. Unlike Williams, Nash was a gettable game-changer.

It wasn't until June that the two-time MVP accepted in his own mind that he'd have to leave his deep desert roots -- after the sting initially induced what he says was a brief flirtation with retirement. But four postseason meetings with the Suns and no suggestion of a substantial contract offer during any of those sit-downs led to four of the longest (and wildest) days of his professional life last week. After Duffy's private two-week campaign to convince Nash that he'd have no choice but to look elsewhere if he wanted to secure a market-value contract, they embarked on a whirlwind 96 hours that, in the end, spawned an agreement on a stunning sign-and-trade from the Suns to the Los Angeles Lakers.

An arrangement -- an outcome -- Nash himself is still struggling to believe.

"It feels strange, no question," Nash said Sunday during a lengthy sit-down for "SportsCenter" and ESPN.com. "I never, never thought I'd be a Laker."

But ...

"By the time July 1 came around, I was ready," Nash said. "I was disappointed [that the Suns wanted to move in a different direction], but I was ready and also excited on the other hand to try something new."

The following diary-style examination of what was happening behind the scenes in the Nash camp when the calendar flipped to July, starting with that meal at Aurora, chronicles the twists and turns that landed Nash with Hollywood's team.

SUNDAY, JULY 1

Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo was the first caller to get through shortly after 12:01 a.m. Officials from the Knicks, Heat, Lakers, Mavericks and Nets dialed in soon thereafter. And with his client sitting so close after their late-night meal, Duffy offered each team that rang an opportunity to speak directly to Nash.

It didn't seem like much at the time, but that's when Nash and Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak had their first chat. Kupchak let Duffy know that he was well aware of Nash's comments to Stephen A. Smith on ESPN New York 98.7 just days before about how "hard" it would be "to put on a Lakers jersey" after all of the Suns' playoffs battles with Kobe Bryant & Co. When Kupchak explained that he "had to call anyway," Duffy thanked him and assured him that he was wise to check in, dismissing Nash's quotes as "media hype."

Yet that's as far as things went with the Lakers on Day 1. Face-to-face meetings were quickly arranged with the two most obvious serious suitors to get the Nash sweepstakes officially under way: Toronto and New York.

The Raptors were first up at 10:30 a.m., with a seven-strong contingent of team officials arriving on a cross-country flight arranged by Raptors co-owner Larry Tanenbaum. With Raptors assistant coach Eric Hughes getting married that weekend in Pasadena, Calif., Tanenbaum made his private jet available to transport Colangelo, Raptors coach Dwane Casey, Nash's former Team Canada coach Jay Triano and the rest of the group to the other side of the country as quickly as possible overnight.

Tanenbaum also provided his ritzy Central Park apartment to serve as the venue for what Duffy described as a "big presentation." The food was lavish and the contract offer rich, but the video compilation Colangelo ordered up for the occasion made an impression on Nash that moved him more than a three-year, $36 million pitch ever could -- largely because Wayne Gretzky was the narrator.

Rumbles that Gretzky, one of Nash's boyhood heroes, would be involved in the Raptors' Nash pitch leaked out through the Toronto media before the two parties got together, but "involved" was understating it. The Great One's unmistakable voice was the backdrop for a compilation of clips and interviews that traced Nash's lifelong journey from young basketball dreamer on faraway Victoria in British Columbia to two-time MVP with the Suns, hitting all the stops (Santa Clara, Canada's fairy-tale run at the 2000 Olympics and more) in between and promising a Gretzky-esque legacy if he'd join the Raptors now.

More than one person in the room would later say that Nash was fighting back tears watching it all.

"We all were," Duffy said. "It was like watching a Hall of Fame video.

"They wanted us to close the deal right then."

Colangelo's approach was reminiscent of the full-court press that greeted Nash from Phoenix on the opening day of free agency back in 2004 -- when another extra-large traveling party descended upon Dallas to swipe Nash away from Mark Cuban's Mavericks -- with the bonus of knowing that the inspired Gretzky wrinkle took the whole operation to a new level. The difference this time, eight years later, is that Nash simply wasn't ready to move that quickly. He couldn't decide that fast knowing that the familiar soil of Toronto, home to Canada's only NBA franchise, was an address far away from his kids.

The Knicks' campaign faced the same proximity challenges for the divorced dad, whose twin 7-year-old daughters and 20-month-old son are based in Phoenix. But that was never going to stop the Madison Square Garden power brokers, dreaming of a Nash-and-Jeremy Lin rotation at the point, from throwing more opulence at Nash. Once Nash got done with the Raptors, Knicks officials had arranged a car to take him and Duffy to a local heliport. There they were greeted by star forward Carmelo Anthony, were whisked all the way to the Knicks' practice facility in Greenburgh by helicopter and came away undeniably impressed that Knicks officials, well aware of Nash's passion for soccer, had the Spain-Italy final from Euro 2012 showing on every available TV in the building.

The Knicks didn't stop there, either. Not with a two-hour summit on MSG chairman Jim Dolan's yacht awaiting Nash as soon as he and Duffy helicoptered back to Manhattan.

MONDAY, JULY 2

The first 24 hours of luxurious action delivered a lot to digest. Duffy urged Nash to "sleep on it" all when they finally parted, but Nash admits that by "Monday morning I was ready to decide between New York and Toronto."

"We're thinking," Duffy said, "that this is going to be a two-horse race."

The phone didn't stop ringing, though. Nets general manager Billy King followed up on his initial call by reiterating that Nash was Brooklyn's top choice in the event that Deron Williams elected to sign with Dallas. He pressed for his own face-to-face session with Nash. Miami's Pat Riley, despite the Heat's limited financial flexibility, rang again. And then Kupchak circled back to see how things were progressing.

Duffy says that's when he asked Kupchak point-blank: "How serious are you, Mitch? Because Steve would love to be on the West Coast." By the end of Day 2, Kupchak had not only convinced Nash and his agent that the Lakers were serious but had also secured approval from Lakers ownership to offer the guaranteed third contract year that Nash was seeking at 38.

The far bigger obstacle was that everyone understood that the well-over-the-cap Lakers had only one path to making a representative bid for Nash, needing to absorb him into the $8.9 million trade exception L.A. had created in December by shipping Lamar Odom to Dallas without taking any salary back.

And that would require the seemingly unthinkable: Phoenix consenting to signing-and-trading Nash to the team its fans loathe more than any other.

"I never would have thought that the Lakers would have come into the picture," Nash says now, explaining why, without much prompting, he had described himself as too "old-school" to dare consider Lakerland as a possible destination when he spoke with Smith on the radio just days prior.

"But when [the Lakers] did and I started to think about it, about how I could be close to the kids and at the same time be on a contender, it was a perfect fit."

Duffy, too, initially struggled to imagine the Suns ever agreeing to help Nash get to Hollywood, so he proceeded carefully. He let Kupchak broach the idea with Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby and focused instead on urging the Lakers GM to loop in Kobe Bryant and arrange for Kobe and Nash to speak.

The same Bryant who had his own infamous interview to live down, having left the distinct impression in January that he would (A) always hate the Suns and (B) never be Nash's biggest fan.

But their talk couldn't have gone much better. Kupchak reached Bryant at his annual basketball camp in Santa Barbara. Kobe broke away from the campers to make his pitch. And not unlike the summer of 2010, when he lobbied Raja Bell hard to join him in L.A. only a few years removed from the unforgettable clothesline that Bell laid on Bryant during the 2006 playoffs, Kobe made it clear that the guys who have the gumption to tangle with him directly are the kind of guys he wants as teammates.

Nash says they both came away from the chat feeling that "we could really help each other," sold on Bryant's contention that Nash's perpetually sunny leadership style would lead to an effective and welcome good cop/bad cop dynamic in the Lakers' locker room to offset Kobe's whip-cracking.

"We thought that we could help each other get there," Nash continued, referring to the quest for his first championship and Bryant's oozing hunger for ring No. 6.

At Team USA's training camp in Las Vegas, Bryant spoke of Nash in profanely reverential tones when someone asked him why he wanted to see Nash wearing purple and gold. "He's a bad mother------," Kobe said.

Said Nash: "I think there's a competitive relationship [between us]. At the same time, we're both grown men, and we both can overcome a few playoff series.

"It's kind of one of those things that I think, from afar, you never want to play for the other team [in a rivalry]. But at the same time, there's really no true loyalty in sports. You have to do what's best for you. Once I realized the Suns were going to do what's best for them, as they should, I figured I have to do what's best for me and not cut off my nose to spite my face."

TUESDAY, JULY 3

Can't do it. Can't do it. Can't do it.

As Day 3 of a process that was never supposed to last this long unfolded, that was the increasingly loud message coming from Babby and Suns owner Robert Sarver.

Kupchak hadn't been rejected completely the day before when he asked Babby whether Phoenix would consider doing sign-and-trade business with the Lakers, but Duffy was met with what the agent describes as "complete resistance" once he and Nash had begun to directly urge the Suns to make this trade. Suns officials were understandably skittish about the public backlash over handing Nash to a hated superpower ... no matter what would be coming back.

So that led to player and agent making pleas to a couple of sympathetic Suns minority owners, Dick Heckmann and Sam Garvin, citing all Nash had brought to the franchise and the community over the past eight seasons. They clung to the hope that the support of two of Sarver's most influential partners would eventually convince the boss to relent.

Nash's other suitors, meanwhile, were starting to lose their patience, having long since expected a resolution by this point. The Knicks were still pressing for a sign-and-trade deal of their own, undaunted by Toronto's decision to award a three-year offer sheet worth an estimated $20 million to Knicks restricted free agent Landry Fields, theoretically stripping New York of a prime piece to package to the Suns for Nash. Colangelo, meanwhile, made sure that Duffy could not forget the magnitude of the proposal that the Raptors had on the table, staying in New York well into Tuesday -- two days after the Raptors' initial sit-down with Nash -- and pressing for a commitment from the Canadian icon before boarding a plane home.

This was the day that the Mavericks would jump fully into the fray as well, once D-Will announced that he'd be staying with the Nets. But Nash, somewhat to his own surprise, was locked in on the Lakers by this point, realizing that no other team on his list of finalists could provide such proximity to his kids while also keeping him in the heart of the hunt for the championship ring that has eluded him for 16 seasons.

"I was really close at times to being a Raptor or Knick," Nash said over the weekend. "Really close. I've always wanted to play for the Knicks, and to go home to Toronto was a dream opportunity in a lot of different ways.

"But I wanted to exhaust every opportunity to be near the kids before I really made a decision. Being in L.A. would mean I can see the kids three or four times a month instead of three or four times a year. Now, after practice or an off day, I can fly home, pick 'em up from school, take 'em to the park, feed 'em and be back home for bedtime. That's priceless to me.

"That was the most important thing. No matter how disappointed some Suns fans would be, nothing could compete with the disappointment of telling my kids I'd only see them a few times throughout the winter. That trumps everything."

And that's why the Knicks and Raptors were still waiting for an answer when Duffy boarded an evening flight back to the Bay Area. The veteran agent, at Nash's insistence, asked the Atlantic Division neighbors to hang in there, sit tight a little longer and give Nash just a bit more time to make the most difficult decision of his career. Because Nash was the top free-agent target for both teams this season, and with the Lakers still by no means assured of getting the green light from the Suns, New York and Toronto grudgingly stuck around.

"Our financial offer and the long-term opportunity for Steve were certainly better, but I can't fault a guy for putting his family ahead of everything else," Colangelo told ESPN.com on Monday. "The fact that that he will be competing for a title made this easy for him. I'm still disappointed, but I completely understand his decision. As a friend, I wish him well."

Not that things were settled by this stage. Not with the Suns demanding a package of four draft picks from the Lakers -- two future first-rounders and two future second-rounders -- just for the right to keep the trade talks alive.

So Nash's celebrated foray into free agency, which began on Canada Day, would be spilling into the Fourth of July.

"I really thought," Nash said, "this was going to be over fast."

WEDNESDAY, JULY 4

Nash says now, after the fact, that he woke up on Independence Day believing it was "50-50 that the Suns would allow the trade to happen."

Yet what Duffy refers to as the Lakers' "kitchen sink" offer, with $3 million in cash added to the four future picks, still left plenty of uncertainty. So much uncertainty and anxiety that Nash, who isn't exactly known for long phone conversations or for letting you know he's fretting, was calling Duffy nonstop by Day 4 of negotiations.

"We were talking literally 40 times a day," Duffy said of the most senior independent client on the BDA Sports roster.

Closure, however, was indeed looming. Duffy made one last run at Sarver's heartstrings, telling him the story of how, as a fledgling agent, he tried to secure a guaranteed contract from the Houston Oilers for wide receiver Webster Slaughter. Then-Oilers GM Mike Holovak informed Duffy that he was asking for the sort of treatment that, in the NFL world, only legendary running back Earl Campbell could command.

Duffy's point? Nash was the Suns' Earl Campbell.

"I told Robert that, in all the years that you're going to own this franchise, I don't think you'll ever have a person in this organization as special as Steve Nash," Duffy said. "He's inarguably the greatest Sun this franchise has ever had. So if you're ever going to make an exception for something, he'd be the guy. And Robert, bless his soul, ended up giving his blessing."

But Duffy knows, realistically, that the speech only did so much good. The Knicks were prepared to part with a player whom the Suns loved in the 2011 draft in a sign-and-trade with Phoenix -- guard Iman Shumpert -- but the clincher for the Lakers might well have been the Suns' fast-moving negotiations with another Duffy client: Goran Dragic. With Phoenix not only extracting a variety of assets from L.A. but also emerging from the Nash breakup with a quality coveted replacement, it became slightly more palatable for Sarver to sign off.

"It probably didn't hurt," Duffy concedes, "that we were going to be a part of the solution for them."

Sarver declined comment over the weekend when reached by ESPN.com, saying that he wouldn't be making any public statements about how things played out until Wednesday, which is the first day NBA players can sign new contracts. But that's OK.

Nash, an ex-Sun for the second time in his career, has plenty to say.

"I'm really thankful that Robert reconsidered," Nash said. "He and some of the other partners were gracious enough to realize what this means to me. They also got some assets back, which I feel good about, but it was a great gesture for me and my family. He was in a tough spot, but he put himself out there to do the best thing for me and my kids."

Said Duffy: "It really comes down to Steve wanting to be as close to his children as possible. It's an absolute bonus that he can compete for a ring and the money he'll be able to earn [roughly $27 million over the next three seasons] at his age. At the end of the day, if Phoenix would have offered him $10 million over three years, he would have stayed in Phoenix. One hundred percent. But we understand where the Suns are. They have to rebuild. They made it clear that they felt like they couldn't pay Steve a large salary and then go out and get other players to build a team."

Once Sarver's seal was assured, Nash called Colangelo and Tanenbaum separately to deliver the news that immediately and inevitably prompted a backlash about his commitment to the country, even though he recently signed as general manager of Canada's senior men's national team. And Duffy called Dolan to let the Knicks know that the offseason Tribeca fixture would not be making New York his full-time home, either.

Nash has heard the gibes about his patriotism. He's seen the footage of a few Suns fans burning his jersey LeBron-style. He's even taken some playful ribbing from some of his cousins back home in England who likened the move from the Suns to the Lakers to the jump that Sol Campbell, once a rock-steady defender from Nash's beloved Tottenham Hotspur in the Barclays Premier League, made from Spurs to death rival Arsenal.

He swears that he can handle it all.

"If I upset some fans, I'll take whatever punishment they want to dish out," Nash said. "I love the Suns' fans; I had a fantastic and defining eight years there."

But ...

"The people I need to try not to disappoint," Nash said, "are my kids."

[key2win]

Newest Laker. Its official!!!!!