For reasons that boggle the sensible mind (but makes perfect sense from a business standpoint), certain national writers have decided that it would be fun to speculate that the Phoenix Suns might trade Steve Nash. This speculation from ESPN, Sports Illustrated and even the league's own web site, NBA.com, prompted the local media to ask Nash and Suns head coach Alvin Gentry for a response.
"Steve's not going to be traded, that I can tell you. If he's getting traded, I'm going along with him," Gentry responded in no uncertain terms.
"Have you looked at the way he's playing? He's playing at a real high level. Why would we trade him? I don't understand that. That's not anything that's been discussed here. You guys want to write about it, fine. But you're wasting your time, I think. It's not going to happen.
"Or at least all those guys out in the coaching staff is going to make sure it doesn't happen and I don't think Lon (Suns President, Lon Babby) and Lance (Suns General Manager, Lance Blanks) are going to let it happen and so who the hell's going to trade him? Not Robert (Suns Managing Partner, Robert Sarver), I know that.
"If you're talking about guys in Sports Illustrated, great. It's great the way they fantasize about everything...Steve is here. Steve is the face of our franchise and he's here. So, make sure that gets on every telecast and every radio and everything that you guys got out there."
Nash was a bit more reserved than his coach about the entire affair.
"I don't know what to say about it. It's not something in -- What is this, 15 years? -- it's not really affected me," Nash said about having his name come up in these type of speculative trade talks.
"I feel like I've done everything I possibly can for this club. If that were an eventuality, we'd move on. There's no real loyalty in sports. But I signed here because I wanted to play with these guys and play for our fans and I'd love to stay here. My personal opinion is it's a lot of chatter, unsubstantiated."
Nash made it clear that neither he nor his agent has been contacted or had any discussions about a trade.
Steve addressed any frustration he might feel with the team or his situation, "It was a pretty frustrating year two years ago and I re-signed because I felt like we had unfinished business to do."
"Dreaming big, it would (have been) to go to the Western Conference Finals and have a chance to beat the Lakers and we got back and did that, so now we're kind of starting at the bottom again. Let's see what we can do. Let's see how good we can get."
Audio: Gentry - Nash trade 111010