The Loop
A trip to the driving range is causing injured NBA star Steve Nash a lot of grief
There was a Steve Nash sighting last week, although not one Los Angeles Lakers fans hoped to see as they wistfully wait for the injured two-time NBA MVP to return to the court.
Nash instead posted an Instagram video of himself hitting balls at a driving range. Nash showed a sound setup, classic top of the backswing position and a surprisingly quick move through the ball given he appears to be a relatively new (and probably tentative) golfer.
Seeing as Nash has played just 65 games in his two seasons in L.A., Lakers fans berated the 40-year-old guard for playing golf as he misses more time (while collecting paychecks) with a troublesome back. The video has since been removed, although it is preserved in part by this local TV report.
The very fact that so many were so outraged by Nash's golf moonlighting, it's nice to see that the average NBA fan believes the golf swing can be athletically demanding. Nash, however, did his best to squelch that perception in a pseudo rationalization for how he spends his injured reserve-list time.
"This may be hard for people to understand unless you've played NBA basketball, but 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," Nash wrote in an open letter on Facebook.
Nicely done, Steve. Now you've got basketball and golf fans angry at you.