Steve Nash hated Mark Cuban for not giving him $60 million in Cuban’s biggest mistake ever

Steve Nash wanted $60 million from the Mavericks but Mark Cuban wouldn’t budge, leading to the Suns snagging him.

Steve Nash was selected one pick out of the lottery by the Phoenix Suns in 1996 and played like it too. In two years with the Suns from 1996-98, he didn’t show any concrete flashes of eventual greatness. Right after the ’98 NBA Draft, the Suns traded their 15^th overall pick from 2 years prior to the Dallas Mavericks.

It was in Dallas where Nash built his brand as one of the league’s purest floor generals. Alongside the likes of stretch-4 Dirk Nowitzki and slasher Michael Finley, the Mavs were a formidable opponent in the Playoffs.

Their most successful season together saw them start the 2002-03 season with 14 straight wins (one shy of the NBA record) and lose in 6 games to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. The Spurs would go on to win the title that year.

Nash performed poorly in the 2003 Playoffs and followed suit in the 2004 Playoffs as well against the Sacramento Kings. As a free agent in the summer of 2004, Steve Nash wanted to get paid by the Mavericks but unfortunately wasn’t.

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Mark Cuban on Steve Nash hating him for a long time.

Mavs owner, Mark Cuban, was not impressed with Nash’s recent postseason performances and did not want to commit to him long-term. Him being in his 30s also played a factor in this. In that same summer of ’04, the Phoenix Suns offered Steve Nash a $65 million contract that ran for 6 years.

Nash ultimately wanted to stay in Dallas but Mark Cuban refused to pay a 31 y/o that kind of money, as reports claimed his number for Nash was around the $45 million mark. Of course, the Canadian point guard did what was best for him financially and signed with the Phoenix Suns.

Cuban, over 15 years later, would go on to admit that letting Nash go would be the biggest mistake he’s ever made as owner of the Mavericks. Of course, when you let a guy like Steve Nash go and instead sign someone like Erick Dampier to a $73 million contract, it’s safe to say that that was quite the blunder.

Nash and Nowitzki would go on to win the regular season MVPs from 2005 to 2007, becoming one of the biggest ‘What Ifs’ in NBA history.

Also read: Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, and Luka Doncic: Billionaire Mark Cuban’s draft decisions have shaped the NBA as it is today