Lakers’ Steve Nash opens up to fans about injury, golf clip

Before the regular season began, the Lakers announced that 40-year-old point guard Steve Nash would miss the season with chronic nerve issues in his back.

This past week, Nash posted a brief video on Instagram, no longer available, of himself whacking a golf ball at a driving range.

A number of Laker fans took exception, wondering how Nash was able to swing a golf club given his inability to stay healthy for most of his three-year contract with the team.

On Friday night, Nash released an open letter on Facebook, opening up to the team’s fans about his personal struggles to stay healthy.

“I have a ton of miles on my back. Three [bulging] disks (a tear in one), stenosis of the nerve route and spondylolisthesis,” wrote Nash. “I suffer from sciatica and after games I often can’t sit in the car on the drive home, which has made for some interesting rides. Most nights I’m bothered by severe cramping in both calves while I sleep, a result of the same damn nerve routes, and the list goes on somewhat comically.”

Nash goes on to detail how much went into returning healthy for the team this season, albeit in a losing effort.

“The past 2 years I’ve worked like a dog to not only overcome these setbacks but to find the form that could lift up and inspire the fans in LA as my last chapter,” he wrote. “Obviously it’s been a disaster on both fronts but I’ve never worked harder, sacrificed more or faced such a difficult challenge mentally and emotionally.”

Lakers Coach Byron Scott recently sympathized with Nash over the golfing video uproar, calling for critics to “relax.”

Nash explains that hitting a golf ball simply doesn’t correlate to playing a game in the NBA.

“There is an incredible difference between this game and swinging a golf club, hiking, even hitting a tennis ball or playing basketball at the park,” wrote Nash. “Fortunately those other activities aren’t debilitating, but playing an NBA game usually puts me out a couple of weeks. Once you’re asked to accelerate and decelerate with Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving it is a completely different demand.”

The Lakers acquired Nash in a sign-and-trade deal with the Phoenix Suns in 2011, giving up four draft picks (including two first-rounders) while paying Nash $27.9 million.

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.