Steve Nash wanted disgruntled Los Angeles Lakers fans to hear it from him.
The Canadian NBA star posted a letter to disappointed fans on Facebook on Friday night, to explain the extent of the back injury that will sideline him for the season.
The 40-year-old from Victoria, who announced prior to the season-opener that he'll miss what would have been his 19th -- and surely last -- season in the NBA, recently posted an Instagram video of himself hitting a golf ball at a driving range. The video, which has since been deleted, drew criticism from Lakers fans.
"I definitely don't want to be a distraction, but I felt it best everyone heard from me in my own words," the two-time NBA MVP wrote.
"I have a ton of miles on my back," Nash continued. "Three bulging disks (a tear in one), stenosis of the nerve route and spondylolisthesis. I suffer from sciatica and after games I often can't sit in the car on the drive home, which has made for some interesting rides. Most nights I'm bothered by severe cramping in both calves while I sleep, a result of the same damn nerve routes, and the list goes on somewhat comically.
"That's what you deserve for playing over 1,300 NBA games. By no means do I tell you this for sympathy -- especially since I see these ailments as badges of honor -- but maybe I can bring some clarity."
Nash's injuries have limited him to just 65 games in his two seasons in L.A.
In his Facebook letter, he wrote that he's always been one of the hardest workers in the game, and that for the past two years he's "worked like a dog" to both overcome the setbacks and to find the form that could inspire Lakers fans in what he called "my last chapter."
". . . 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. "Fortunately those other activities aren't debilitating, but playing an NBA game usually puts me out a couple of weeks. Once you're asked to accelerate and decelerate with Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving it is a completely different demand."
The Lakers are 0-5 and last in the Western Conference.
