Steve Nash’s Ex-Wife: Banned from LA so He Can Avoid Paying Child Support?
Nothing sends a warm tingle down the back of the spine like a finger-pointing legal battle between wealthy divorcees, now does it?
If for some reason you felt like your life was lacking the icy tang of baby-mama drama this week, relief is on its way. Steve Nash has found himself locked in a legal battle with his ex-wife, Alejandra Amarilla, who claims the Lakers guard is trying to block her from moving to Los Angeles to avoid paying child support.
According to TMZ, Amarilla has filed court documents alleging that Nash is trying to block her from relocating her and their children from Phoenix, Arizona to Los Angeles, California.
Allegedly, Nash has asked her not to make the move because he believes he might be traded from the Lakers or have to retire from the game. Amarilla says this isn’t the case, and that the ballplayer is trying to avoid paying out for huge child support settlement that could be imposed on him under California state law.
Nash’s ex-wife alleges that under their current arrangement, Arizona state law doesn’t require him to pay a dime—something which Nash has taken advantage of, Amarilla says.
It’s a strange situation, considering Nash signed with the Lakers, citing that he his need to be near to his kids as his biggest factor for joining the team. He made that plain and clear, stating they were the “No. 1 reason” he chose to move to Los Angels instead of joining the Knicks in 2012.
A judge has issued a restraining order on Amarilla, which disallows her from moving west until they’ve went to trial.
We’ll see how this plays out. Surely it will end in a big group hug and a trip to the Cheesecake Factory—supervised by legal counsel, of course.
Got prenup?
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Is This the Steve Nash LA Lakers Will See Again Next Season?
Due to injuries Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash only managed to start 50 games during the 2012-13 regular season, yet he still averaged 12.7 points and 6.7 assists while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and nearly 44 percent from the three-point line.
Those are decent numbers when you consider Nash was forced to concede most of the ball-handling duties to Kobe Bryant, and he had to adapt to having two interior players in Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard, who were actually more comfortable playing in the paint.
Nash has vowed not to take any time off in his effort to be 100 percent healthy entering the 2013-14 season, but even if he does reach that goal, can he really be a better player at 40 than he is at 39?
More continuity would certainly help Nash and the Lakers next season assuming Howard decides to make Los Angeles his long-term home, but a full offseason and training camp will not solve all of the Lakers’ issues.
And it definitely doesn’t ease my main concern about Nash.
If the Lakers are able to keep their core intact, then improved chemistry will make them a stronger team. But if Kobe does make a successful return from his Achilles injury and is available opening day, the Lakers will also be one of the NBA‘s oldest teams.
And that doesn’t bode well when you consider the only way the Lakers can be competitive with the younger teams in their conference is if they slow the game down and focus on playing dominant defense.
Even when Nash was younger, he never much cared for defense and while we might see a healthier version of Nash next season, what are the chances that he will be a better defensive player?
I would say slim to none, but compared to how awful he was this season, anything would be an improvement.
Nash and Bryant can still be a potent tandem on offense next season, but it’s equally possible that they might be the worst defensive backcourt in the league as well.
Bryant was already only a shadow of his former defensive self before rupturing his Achilles tendon, and his quickness and lateral movement will only be further diminished by the injury.
The presence of a healthy Howard may not be enough to off-set Nash’s and Bryant’s poor perimeter defense, and while Howard’s decision will not hinge on that certainty, it might be a factor he considers.
Unfortunately for the Lakers any plans for the near future will almost certainly include Nash since he’s under contract for the next two seasons at $9 million per, and it’s unlikely any other team would want him anyway.
Only the most optimistic Lakers fans can find the silver lining in an immediate future that includes another season with head coach Mike D’Antoni and Nash leading the charge, but what happens when reality sets in.
Maybe Nash will improve his offensive numbers from last season if healthy, but he still has to defend the likes of Tony Parker, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul and Stephen Curry on a nightly basis and if you didn’t notice, each of those players routinely punished the Lakers during the season.
Nash still has faith that if the Lakers can manage to stay healthy, they have the potential to reach the greatness that most Lakers fans envisioned when the roster was assembled.
However, I’m not sure if health, improved chemistry and the return of Howard can compensate for the fundamental flaw that plagues Nash and the Lakers’ other perimeter players.
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Metta World Peace and Steve Nash hopeful for Dwight Howard return
The Los Angeles Lakers embarrassed themselves in the 2012-13 season.
At the center of that run was big man Dwight Howard who has been a magnet for this sort of thing for two consecutive seasons.
Let’s not backtrack into the debacle that was Howard’s exodus from Orlando. Staying with the now and the future, the question is ‘what will Howard do now that he is a free agent?.’
If things shape up and Dwight Howard stays in Los Angeles to make amends to Laker fans, Ron Artest a.k.a. Metta World Peace told ESPN that it will be his responsibility among others to right the wrongs of this year.
Please click here to read this story.
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Steve Nash ‘not even close’ to thinking retirement
Los Angeles Lakers guard Steve Nash played Sunday for the first time in nine games, he is trying to recover from nerve damage in his right hamstring caused by a right hip injury, and says he will have to just fight through “some soreness and some pain.”
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Lakers’ Steve Nash trying to beat old nemesis in Spurs
The Spurs have been Steve Nash’s nemesis for years in the playoffs
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Steve Nash: I’m not myself
At 39-years-old, its doubtful that anybody with sense expected point guard Steve Nash to be a miracle worker in Los Angeles.
Laker Nation certainly expected more than what they have received thus far and Nash is owning up to the fact that something is wrong.
After the Lakers were pounded by the San Antonio Spurs to kickoff the first round of the NBA playoffs on Sunday, Nash spoke and said that despite his multiple injuries, something is still wrong.
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Steve Nash in starting lineup for Lakers
Nash is in the starting lineup, Mike D’Antoni tells reporters.
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Lakers’ Steve Nash angling for playoff return (Yahoo! Sports)
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — After every misfortune and injury setback during the most frustrating season of his career, Steve Nash only wants to finish the year on the court with the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Steve Nash won’t play for Lakers on Wednesday
Because of hip and hamstring issues, Lakers are holding Nash out Wednesday
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Is It Officially Time for Lakers Nation to Panic over Steve Nash’s Health?
Misery loves company, especially in the case of the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant joined the NBA‘s most depressing party on April 12, when his Achilles tendon snapped during the closing minutes of the Lakers’ 118-116 win over the Golden State Warriors.
The Black Mamba’s tragic collapse was only the latest in a long line of calamitous injuries to have befallen the Purple and Gold during this most disappointing of campaigns.
Dwight Howard‘s been hampered by the residual effects of back surgery all season. In addition, Howard’s had to cope with a torn labrum in his right shoulder since January, with on-court contact causing flareups in pain and occasional absences from the lineup thereafter.
Pau Gasol limped into training camp on knees that were worn out by the 2012 London Olympics, sat out eight games with tendinitis in said knees, and later missed more than a month after tearing his plantar fascia.
But the injury bug’s “Reign of Terror” in the Lakers locker room began with the one player in LA whose season has arguably been the most miserable of all: Steve Nash. The two-time MVP and surefire Hall-of-Famer has been out of action since March 30 on account of hip and hamstring problems.
He’d previously sat out nearly two months after suffering a fracture in his left leg (and dealing with subsequent nerve damage) from a collision with Portland Trail Blazers rookie Damian Lillard on Halloween:
Nash hasn’t exactly set the NBA ablaze this season when he’s been fit to play this year, either. The interplay between Steve and Kobe had been shaky, at best, with Nash often relegated to a role as a spot-up shooter and occasional offensive operator next to the Mamba.
It should come as no surprise, then, that Nash’s assist and usage numbers are at their lowest levels since the 1999-2000 season, though his shooting percentages (.497 from the field, .438 from three, .922 from the free throw line) are still phenomenal.
All told, Nash has missed 31 games for the Lakers in 2012-13, the most in a single season for his entire 17-year career.
And it’s not as though Nash had been perfectly healthy up until his arrival in LaLa Land. He’s been plagued by bad problems since his days with Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs—back problems that left Mark Cuban hesitant to re-sign Nash when he hit free agency in 2004.
Whether Nash’s latest setbacks are in any way connected to his long-standing back problems or those that emerged in his left leg this past October plays a part in the extent to which the Lakers and their fans should be worried about their floor general’s fitness.
Nash’s 39-year-old body isn’t likely to do him any favors from here on out. The toll exacted by 17 years of pro basketball can be seen, in some way, in every new injury that Steve suffers and the lengthier, more uncertain recovery times that each incurs. Likewise, every nick, cut, bump, bruise, strain, break and tear that Nash encounters now leaves him more vulnerable to further breakdown.
Which is certainly a concern for the Lakers. After all, they owe him just over $19 million for the next two seasons combined, whether he’s fully healthy or not. And with Father Time bearing down on his ever-more-frail body, Steve’s odds of reaching peak condition again grow slimmer day by day.
Then again, who knows what the rest of Nash’s time in LA might bring? He’s notorious for the meticulous way in which he cares for his body, from diet and exercise to sleeping and breathing. The guy’s a fitness fiend and, as such, figures to do everything in his power to whip himself into proper playing shape during the upcoming offseason.
Of course, the Lakers have a bit of business to handle before then, and it’s in that narrower temporal view that Nash’s nagging injuries become particularly worrisome. He may be back in time for LA’s season finale against the Houston Rockets on April 17, though he doesn’t figure to be anything close to “100 percent” if/when he does. A seemingly never-ending series of stops and starts have dragged down Steve’s conditioning, to the point where the proverbial step he’s lost with age has been stretched into two or three.
Steps slow or no, the Lakers will need whatever semblance of Steve Nash they can get if they’re to do anything more than get swept out of the playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Kobe’s torn Achilles leaves LA short of a guard capable of creating offense for himself and others with any consistency.
Steve Blake has done well to step up in that regard, with 23 points and four assists during the Lakers’ 91-86 win over the San Antonio Spurs on April 14.
But as admirable as Blake’s efforts have been, he’s hardly a ball-handler, passer, or shooter on par with the man whose place he’s holding. Nash is one of the greatest purveyors of the pick-and-roll that the game has ever seen, though, admittedly, his chemistry with Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol in that regard has left something to be desired. His connection with Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni, which dates back to their days with the Phoenix Suns, is also without peer.
To be sure, LA’s hopes of making a deep playoff push were dim to begin with, even before Kobe and Nash fell victim to the injury bug. The Lakers’ overall efforts have been undermined all season by poor play on the defensive end, with the team’s starting guards standing out as the chief culprits. Bryant had been oft-maligned for his lackadaisical play defensively, while Nash has never been much of an obstructor in that regard.
In the bigger picture, then, there’s no need for anyone in Lakerland to panic over Steve Nash’s health right now. The team won’t be anywhere near title contention in the weeks to come, with or without Nash.
But if Steve’s problems persist and submarine the team’s pursuits next season and beyond, then the Lakers will have cause enough to sound the proverbial alarm.
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