After years of brushing aside the notion that he'd ever leave his comfortable desert surroundings, Steve Nash suddenly sounds like a player ready for a change of scenery.
The All-Star point guard sat down with ESPN.com this week to talk about his forthcoming free agency and admitted that, more and more, he pictures himself in a different uniform next season after spending the past eight seasons with the Phoenix Suns.
"I couldn't list a favorite," Nash said in his role of host for his annual Showdown charity soccer game in the Chinatown section of Manhattan, declining the opportunity to name the team with the best shot at signing him once free agency opens leaguewide Sunday at 12:01 a.m.
"But I do know that for the first time I realize that it might not be Phoenix. I would have said even in the middle of (last) season or last year that I would have thought I probably would have stayed in Phoenix forever. But it's come to a point now where I'm facing the reality that's not (the case)."
Asked what's changed, Nash says he senses Suns officials are ready to move in a different direction after they resisted numerous calls -- even from a pocket of Suns fans rooting for the 38-year-old to get a chance to play out his career with a title contender -- to trade Nash during each of the past two seasons. Phoenix has made two consecutive trips to the lottery in the wake of its Cinderella run to the Western Conference finals in 2010.
The All-Star point guard sat down with ESPN.com this week to talk about his forthcoming free agency and admitted that, more and more, he pictures himself in a different uniform next season after spending the past eight seasons with the Phoenix Suns.
"I couldn't list a favorite," Nash said in his role of host for his annual Showdown charity soccer game in the Chinatown section of Manhattan, declining the opportunity to name the team with the best shot at signing him once free agency opens leaguewide Sunday at 12:01 a.m.
"But I do know that for the first time I realize that it might not be Phoenix. I would have said even in the middle of (last) season or last year that I would have thought I probably would have stayed in Phoenix forever. But it's come to a point now where I'm facing the reality that's not (the case)."
Asked what's changed, Nash says he senses Suns officials are ready to move in a different direction after they resisted numerous calls -- even from a pocket of Suns fans rooting for the 38-year-old to get a chance to play out his career with a title contender -- to trade Nash during each of the past two seasons. Phoenix has made two consecutive trips to the lottery in the wake of its Cinderella run to the Western Conference finals in 2010.
