In what still stands as one of the most shocking NBA transactions in recent memory, future Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash requested and was subsequently traded from the Phoenix Suns to their arch rival Los Angeles Lakers. Nash believed that LA was his best destination, because it combines an opportunity for him to win an NBA title, while also allowing the playmaker the prospect of residing within a short distance of his three children, who would now be living with their mother after the ballplayer’s divorce.

“I wanted to exhaust every opportunity to be near the kids before I really made a decision. Being in LA would mean I can see the kids three or four times a month instead of three or four times a year. Now, after practice or an off day, I can fly home, pick 'em up from school, take 'em to the park, feed 'em and be back home for bedtime. That's priceless to me,” explained Nash in an interview with ESPN.com.

This overpowering rationale meant that the British Columbia product turned down the opportunity to play for his home country Toronto Raptors, as well as for the New York Knicks, the franchise based in his offseason residence (Nash spends his summers living in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood).

As the two-time MVP moves his game from the sweltering Arizona desert to the subtropical climes of Southern California, he leaves behind a well established Phoenix lifestyle, built after a combined 10-year stint in the Valley of the Sun (1996-1998, 2004-2012).

During the basketball season, Nash has been living within the walls of a 6,460-square-foot mansion in the ritzy Arizona enclave of Paradise Valley, immediately adjacent to the Phoenix-area hub city of Scottsdale.

Here is an aerial photo of the abode and its 1.25-acre desert landscape, located 15 miles northeast downtown Phoenix’s US Airways Center (which also serves as the Suns’ practice venue) and four miles north of Old Town Scottsdale.

When Nash was not honing his hoops skills or toning his professional physique at the Suns training facility, he was known to keep himself in shape at Scottsdale’s ultra-luxurious Gainey Village Health Club, situated three miles north of his home base.       

The eight-time All-Star also spent much of his time in and around the commerce that surrounds the intersection of Scottsdale Road and Camelback Road in the city of Scottsdale, including at the well appointed Scottsdale Fashion Square mall, located three miles south of his homestead.

Now, Nash is off to Los Angeles for at least the next three seasons. But, as stated above, he does plan on taking the one hour flight back to the desert on a regular basis.

As a result, if Suns fans can ever find a way to forgive their sudden “traitorous” feelings for Arizona’s former hero, they may have the opportunity to still see the man reasonably often, particularly on his frequently traveled stretch of road in Phoenix’s East Valley.