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Is the end of the road approaching for Canadas greatest basketball player? According to veteran basketball columnist Peter Vecsey, Lakers guard Steve Nash is close to retirement. Johnny Damon White Jersey . The former New York Post columnist and NBA TV analyst tweeted out the following statement early Tuesday morning: "Im hearing Nashs pain is forcing him 2 seriously consider calling it a career. Hed still get $ this yr & next & LAd get cap relief next." The 39-year-old Nash is sidelined indefinitely with a back injury and has been limited to just six games so far in the 2013-14 NBA season, averaging just 22.5 minutes-per-game. Lakers head coach Mike DAntoni spoke out last week about rumours of Nashs retirement, trying to temper the situation to the Los Angeles Times. "Theres always going to be a debate but were not going to debate it, talk about it," DAntoni told the Times last Tuesday. "Hes going to try to get ready, hes going to try to play and were going to try to win. Its really simple for us. Its not real difficult." Still, Nashs time in Los Angeles has not been up to the lofty standards he set during his MVP years with the Phoenix Suns, as the Victoria Native appeared in just 50 games for the Lakers in 2012-13 posting a 12.7 points-per-game average (his second-lowest total since 1999-2000) and 6.7 assists per game (his lowest total over that span). Nash has three years remaining on his contract including the current NBA season, worth a total of just over $28.3 million. Winning back-to-back MVP Awards in 2004-05 and 2005-06, Nash has put together a Hall of Fame-worthy career. He is a veteran of 18 NBA seasons with the Lakers, Suns and Dallas Mavericks and has been selected to 8 NBA All-Star Games, averaging 14.3 PPG, 8.5 APG with a career free throw percentage of 90.4 per cent. Mark Teixeira Authentic . "Yeah, [I heard them]," he said. "They made me miss the free throw." A year ago, Lowrys post-game antics may not have been so well received but what was snide and snarky is now endearing quick wit. Brian McCann Authentic . Abreu hit his 20th homer and Adam Dunn added a three-run shot as Chicago beat San Francisco 7-6 on Wednesday, handing the Giants their fifth straight loss. ARE, Sweden -- Anna Fenninger seized the lead in the overall Alpine World Cup standings on Friday by winning a giant slalom for the second straight day. The 24-year-old Austrian extended her first-leg lead to beat Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany by 0.61 seconds. "Its just amazing. It was a fight in the second run," said Fenninger, the Olympic silver medallist in giant slalom, who had to contend with cross winds, rain and a rutted snow surface. Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden was third, trailing 0.68 behind Fenningers combined time of 2 minutes, 00.15 seconds, and retained her lead in the season-long GS standings. Still, it is Fenninger who leads overall, using the 100 race points for victory to take a slender seven-point advantage -- 1,151 to 1,144 -- over Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany. "Im so happy that I can win two times in Are," said Fenninger, whose late-season surge has her contending for the overall title for the first time. Hoefl-Riesch, the 2011 overall champion, had a better second run yet still placed 10th, 2.32 behind her new rival. Marie-Michele Gagnon of Lac-Etchemin, Que., was 25th and Marie-Pier Prefontaine of St-Sauveur, Quue. Shawn Kelley White Jersey. , didnt qualify for the second run. Five scheduled races remain this season, starting with a slalom on Saturday when the German will be favoured to regain the lead. Hoefl-Riesch, the 2010 Olympic slalom champion, has three top-5 finishes in World Cup slaloms this season, while Fenninger has not started in the discipline since December 2011. Fenninger also won the Olympic super-G title last month, and has two victories and a runner-up finish in three World Cup races since the Winter Games. Rebensburg, who took a bronze medal defending her Olympic GS title in Sochi, got her best-placed finish of the season. With one GS race remaining, Lindell-Vikarby has a 14-point lead over Fenninger in the discipline standings. The final race closes World Cup finals week at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, on March 16. On Saturday, new Olympic slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States will start as favourite. She placed 24th on Friday, more than three seconds behind the winner. American teammate Julia Mancuso placed 20th and fell outside the top-25 places in the season-long GS standings, which determines the line-up at the World Cup finals. cheap jerseys from china cheap jerseys ' ' '