Latest On Steve Nash

8:42pm: Nash met with the Raptors and Knicks today while the Nets will make their pitch tomorrow morning, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.  The Nets like Nash both as a potential Deron Williams replacement and teammate.

4:22pm: Nash is meeting with the Nets today, a league source tells Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (via Twitter).

1:39pm: Nash tells ESPN.com's Marc Stein (Twitter link) that he's eager to talk to the Mavericks if their pursuit of Deron Williams falls through. However, Stein hears that the Knicks and Raptors are Nash's top two choices at the moment, in no particular order.

1:16pm: The Suns are interested in Landry Fields as part of a possible sign-and-trade deal for Nash, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Again, such a trade would have to include other pieces in addition to Fields, and Nash would probably have to accept a below-market-value salary to choose the Knicks over other suitors. But the Suns do have interest in Fields.

11:18am: The Knicks have had "exploratory talks" with the Suns about a potential sign-and-trade for Nash, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. Such a deal would allow Nash to make more than the $3.09MM mini mid-level exception the Knicks can offer.

To match salaries, the Knicks would probably have to offer at least two or three players such as Iman Shumpert, Toney Douglas, Landry Fields, and Steve Novak. Even then, Nash could make more money elsewhere, and would be playing a part in depleting the Knicks' roster in order to get to New York. Nash to the Knicks continues to look like a real long shot to me, though that's just my speculation.

The Suns, meanwhile, haven't scheduled an in-person meeting with Nash, but contacted him last night, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.

12:48am: The Knicks, Raptors, Nets, Mavs and Suns are making early recruiting pitches to Steve Nash, according to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, via Twitter. The Heat and Pacers are also involved, according to TNT's David Aldridge (Twitter link), but the Trail Blazers are not, tweets SI.com's Sam Amick.

While Portland was viewed by some teams around the league as a contender for Nash, Joe Freeman of the Oregonian tweets that the Blazers aren't looking to bring aboard aging veterans or quick fixes. Freeman adds in a pair of tweets that, while Portland may decide to sign a veteran point guard, the team won't add anyone to compete with rookie Damian Lillard for the starting gig. Any acquisition must be okay with backing up and mentoring the sixth overall pick.

As for Nash, we've heard over the last couple days that the Raptors' pitch to the Canadian star is expected to be aggressive and extensive. According to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News (Twitter link), the Raps are pitching Nash on post-retirement opportunities with the franchise, while Marc Stein of ESPN.com tweets that Toronto has Nash hero Wayne Gretzky ready to call the point guard on Sunday to help with the recruitment.

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