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Steve Nash won’t play for Lakers this season

It appears the days of Steve Nash driving down the lane against the likes of Utah's John Lucas III might be done, at least for this season.
It appears the days of Steve Nash driving down the lane against the likes of Utah’s John Lucas III might be done, at least for this season.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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With considerably less fanfare than the day he was acquired, Steve Nash’s tenure with the Lakers ended.

Nash will sit out the entire season because of recurring nerve damage in his back, the team announced Thursday. The $9.71 million he will make in the third and final year of his contract still counts toward the Lakers’ salary cap this season.

“Being on the court this season has been my top priority and it is disappointing to not be able to do that right now,” Nash said in a statement released Thursday by the team. “I work very hard to stay healthy and unfortunately my recent setback makes performing at full capacity difficult. I will continue to support my team during this period of rest, and will focus on my long-term health.”

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Hopes were high when Nash, a two-time most valuable player, signed a three-year, $28-million contract with the Lakers in a July 2012 trade with Phoenix that cost them two first-round picks and two second-round picks. A month later, Dwight Howard was acquired, making the Lakers alleged championship contenders with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol already in the mix.

Nash was coming off a season in which he averaged 12.5 points and 10.7 assists with the Suns and was expected to be the dynamic point guard the Lakers had lacked for years.

But he has been injury-prone since his second game with them, sustaining a broken bone in his lower left leg and subsequent nerve damage in the area after an in-game collision in Portland on Oct. 31, 2012.

Nash, who turns 41 in February, played only 15 games last season primarily because of the nerve condition in his back, which also leads to weakness in his hamstrings.

When training camp began a few weeks ago, he was optimistically penciled in as the Lakers’ starting point guard under first-year Coach Byron Scott.

He was able to make it through only one full game in exhibition play, totaling 11 points and five assists in 20 minutes of the Lakers’ opener against Denver.

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“I felt fine. I felt like I could do anything I wanted,” Nash said after that game. A day later, though, he was more cautious, mentally crossing his fingers that his back would hold up.

“It’s been a crazy drive for me,” he said. “Maybe I’m starting to get to the other side of it … but it’s very tenuous. It’s such a monster to me over the last 18 months or two years that I’m not conceding anything to that beast.”

He sat out the Lakers’ next game and removed himself at halftime of the Lakers’ third exhibition Oct. 12 because he “just didn’t feel right,” Scott said that night. Nash had missed all five of his shots against Golden State and finished with three points and one assist in 12 minutes.

The Lakers still have three point guards on their roster — Jeremy Lin, rookie Jordan Clarkson and veteran Ronnie Price, who has a non-guaranteed contract.

Price has been starting at point guard recently while Lin recovers from two sprained ankles, but Lin is expected to eventually take over the position. The team likes Clarkson, 22, a second-round draft pick, though he missed almost two weeks of exhibition play because of a strained calf and returned to action Wednesday against Portland. Lin, 26, is in the last year of a contract that pays him $14.9 million this season.

“As disappointed as we are for ourselves and our fans, we’re even more disappointed for Steve,” Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said in a statement. “We know how hard he’s worked the last two years to try to get his body right for the rigors of the NBA, and how badly he wants to play, but unfortunately he simply hasn’t been able to get there up to this point in time. Steve has been a consummate professional, and we greatly appreciate his efforts.”

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Nash is not officially announcing his retirement, though he probably will determine that at some point this season. Until he did retire, the Lakers could trade him to another team, essentially as an expiring contract, though it would be a longshot for Nash to play again after basically sitting out two consecutive seasons. If Nash were to be traded, the Lakers would have to pay him an additional 15% trade kicker, as per terms of his contract.

The Lakers could apply for a disabled player exception for up to half of Nash’s salary, or $4.85 million. The exception could be used to sign a player for the remainder of the season or trade for a player making up to $4.95 million in the final year of his contract.

The Lakers begin the regular season Tuesday against Houston at Staples Center.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan

Times correspondent Eric Pincus contributed to this report.

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