Lakers fill Point-Guard void with veteran Nash

With the Lakers' Ramon Sessions fleeing Los Angeles by deciding not to exercise his $4.5 Million player option for the 2012 season in hopes of signing a more lucrative contract elsewhere, the Lakers were left on the outside looking in at the point-guard position with the exception of Steve Blake. Refusing to lose sleep over the matter, Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak wasted little time to work his magic as the franchise has appeared to have now found their man as long-time rivals Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant will now join forces in Tinseltown.

Having  faced one another for well over a decade now in the Western Conference since both being drafted in the first round of the 1996 NBA Draft, there's very few players currently in the league who've become as well acquainted with one another than Bryant and Nash. And until this past Wednesday, fans would have to wait until the All-Star Game to see Kobe and Nash playing alongside one another. That is no longer the case as the Lakers have agreed to a sign-and-trade deal with the Phoenix Suns which will send Steve Nash to L.A. where he'll ink a three-year deal worth an estimated $27 Million in exchange for first round picks in the 2013 and 2015 Draft as well as second round picks in 2013 and 2014. Though the addition of Nash makes the Lakers look that much older on paper and fails to fit the ideal description of head coach Mike Brown's defensive-minded ball club, he brings with him a dribbling and passing ability that hasn't been seen in L.A. in decades. He's also pretty good at shooting. Not since the Showtime Lakers which featured a backcourt ran by a guy named Ervin Magic Johnson have the Lake Show had a point-guard of this magnitude.

Many skeptics have already begun to question if Kobe and Nash can co-exist and believe the two sharing the floor on the same squad won't necessarily work. They're wrong and here's why; Not in the history of his tenure with the Lakers (16 seasons) has Kobe had a point-guard capable of distributing the ball, not to mention draw attention and run the offense quite like Nash can. With Bryant aware now more than ever that he can no longer put the team on his back and carry them to another NBA title, he'll do everything it takes to get that sixth ring. Even if that means handing over the keys to the offense to a 38-year old guy that has made 8 All-Star teams and has won 2-NBA MVP Awards. If the Lakers had acquired any other 38-year old I would've opposed, but Steve Nash has proven that he still has enough juice left in the tank to fill L.A.'s point-guard needs as he still managed to average 12.5 points and 10.7 assists per game last year which ranked second in the league despite being among the oldest active players in the game today.

With the roster the Lakers currently have, Nash will have plenty of options to dish to on offense with both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in the post. And while the deal gives Laker fans something they've been without for far too long -- a legit point-guard, what it doesn't give them, however, is the right to be dubbed the team to beat in the Western Conference. At least not until they can prove that they can go toe to toe with a much quicker and younger Oklahoma City Thunder squad that will remain the consensus favorite to represent the Western Conference in next year's NBA Finals, something they'll be even hungrier for this time around having now tasted defeat. That could all change, however, if the Lakers are able to finally land Orlando's Dwight Howard who they've flirted with on numerous occasions and are once again surfacing in the trade-o-sphere as a possible destination. 

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