Steve Nash might just have had an ulterior motive in signing to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The NBA star, who's inking a three-year, $27 million deal to move from the Phoenix Suns to the Lakers, has said that he'll be moving into film production after his run with the team, a career change that will no doubt be aided by his relocation to the show-business capital of the world.
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Talking to Forbes in May, the 38-year-old Nash said that he'll likely abandon his sports career in three years — when his contract with the Lakers expires — to pursue his other sideline gigs. Prime among those, Nash says, will be his production company Meathawk.
"I’d like to play three more years and then get more involved in some of these other pursuits, most notably my production company," Nash — who co-owns Meathawk with his cousin, Ezra Holland, said. "It is something I spend a lot of time on."
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Aside from ads for companies including Nike, Toyota and EA Sports, Meathawk produced the feature film "Into the Wind," which chronicles amputee Terry Fox's attempted 1980 run across Canada for cancer research. The film premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, and aired as part of ESPN's "30 for 30" series. Nash is also working on a film about soccer giant Pele, which is slated for release prior to the 2014 World Cup competition.
Nash's other business pursuits include Steve Nash Enterprises, which holds investments in the juice retailer Liquid Nutrition, the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team and a franchise of gyms branded with Nash's name.
Perhaps, when Nash hangs up his jersey, he can collaborate with fellow former Laker Shaquille O'Neal and finally get that long-awaited sequel to "Kazaam" off the ground.