Ok so...ah...
Hmmm. Not even sure where to start here but there are suddenly multiple reports flying across Twitter that the New York Knicks are in advanced sign-and-trade talks with the Phoenix Suns regarding Steve Nash.
From Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski:
The Knicks have emerged as frontrunners to land Steve Nash in a sign-and-trade deal, league sources tell Y! Sports. Knicks, Suns are in the critical stages of discussions on a sign-and-trade deal that would pay Nash $27M-$30M over 3 years. NY package would include Iman Shumpert, Toney Douglas and likely 3 low money players to get Nash salary needed to close gap on Toronto offer.
And from ESPN.com's Marc Stein:
As @alanhahn notes, Knicks PREFER to chase Nash w/out Shumpert. Sources say they're trying to find third team to join proposal to avoid it Yet as one source familiar w/NYK thinking told ESPN: "They don't want to trade (Shumpert), but they will if they have to. They want Nash."
Now again, nothing's official and who knows, the Raptors may end up winning this thing.
But two things you now have to consider:
a) Considering these reports, from two of the best in the business mind you, do you even want Nash at this point? It's starting to look pretty obvious that the Raptors were if not last on his list, at least near the bottom of the pile.
b) And if this falls through, how much of a Plan B does Bryan Colangelo have? This is in many ways a worst-case scenario because without Nash, you're looking at the same team essentially that won 23 games last year, meaning 30 to 32 wins this year adjusting for injuries and a full 82 game schedule. That's not going to cut it for Raptors' owners I don't think, especially considering the new owners are media giants who are going to want to see increased ratings to sell advertising etc. Minus Nash and with only Landry Fields and maybe Ersan Ilyasova or some other lower-tier free agent to show for the summer, that's not happening.