10. Nash Gets Revenge Against The Mavs
In the summer of 2004, Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks had their chance to keep a future two-time MVP. Cuban wanted to rebuild around Dirk Nowitzki and already had almost $50 million committed to Antoine Walker, Michael Finley and Antawn Jamison that season, so the Mavs wound up lowballing Nash with a four-year, $36 million offer.
It’s a good thing they did, because the Suns swooped in with a six-year, $63 million contract. When Cuban didn’t match as Nash hoped he would, a decision that would alter the course of NBA offenses forever had been made and Nash joined Phoenix.
He wouldn’t have to wait very long to exact his revenge on Cuban and the Mavs either, as the Suns met up with Dallas in the 2005 Western Conference semifinals. Nash had already led the Suns to an NBA-best 62-20 record that season en route to his first of two MVP Awards, but Nash saved his best for that Mavericks series.
In six games, Nash tortured Dallas to the tune of 30.3 points, 12.0 assists and 6.5 rebounds per game while posting insane shooting splits of .550/.419/.962. He dropped 48 points in a Game 4 loss, had a 34-13-12 triple-double in Game 5 with the series tied at 2-2 and finished Dallas off in Game 6 with 39 points, 12 assists and nine boards.
People often praised Nash for his selflessness and sometimes even critiqued him for not being assertive enough, but in that series, Nash made sure to let the world know what he was capable of.
Cuban and the Mavs wound up making the NBA Finals the following season (beating the Suns in Western Conference Finals) and won a championship in 2011, so things worked out for them in the end. But at the time, Nash made Cuban look like a fool for passing him up, and the completely hypothetical argument could be made it was still a massive mistake letting him walk.
Next: No. 9