Nash and Howard Cross Paths, Creating Imposing Pair Steve Dykes/European Pressphoto Agency Dwight Howard (12), an object of the Nets" affection, and Steve Nash (10), wooed by the Knicks, should frustrate defenses. EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Soon enough, Steve Nash will be orchestrating the offense, hitting Dwight Howard with perfect bullet passes in the lane, electrifying Staples Center, stirring visions of another parade down Figueroa Street. If the Los Angeles Lakers, now under the direction of Mike D'Antoni, are to return to greatness, it will most likely begin with a simple two-man game: Nash to Howard, picking and rolling defenses to the brink of madness, while Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol hover ominously. Nash is the greatest pick-and-roll point guard of his generation. Howard is the league's fiercest big man, and a nightmare rolling to the basket - a locomotive in the lane. Their partnership should be brilliant. "That's as good as it can get," D'Antoni himself told Sports Illustrated in October, weeks before he unexpectedly inherited Nash and Howard from the deposed Mike Brown. As good as it can get. And yet, nearly never was. In an alternate timeline, Nash and Howard would be New York rivals - Nash powering the Knicks and Howard anchoring the Nets. For a time over the summer, it seemed altogether possible. Howard wanted to play in Brooklyn and for months pushed the Orlando Magic to trade him there. Magic officials, unmoved by the Nets" trade offers, instead sent him to the Lakers. Nash was weighing offers from the Knicks and Toronto when the Lakers unexpectedly came calling at the 11th hour. "I always wanted to play for the Knicks in the Garden," Nash said Friday during an interview at the Lakers" training center. Although that possibility had been rumored for years, "this summer was very close," said Nash, who is rehabbing a leg injury and will be re-examined next weekend. Nash met with the Knicks, the Raptors, the Nets and the Dallas Mavericks in early July. Each held a different appeal. Dallas offered a return to the city where Nash became a star. Toronto offered a chance to return to his home country. The Nets and the Knicks offered the allure of New York, where Nash lives in the summer. By the morning of July 2, Nash had narrowed his choices to the Knicks and the Raptors. "I was happy to play with both," he said. That same day, the Lakers unexpectedly jumped into the fray, making an initial two-year offer if the Suns would agree to a sign-and-trade deal. Nash wanted three years. And the Suns, a divisional rival, were reluctant. "The L.A. thing was kind of right at the deadline," Nash said. I didn't even know it could be. The Lakers eventually increased the offer to three years. Then it was up to the Suns to facilitate the deal. More than anything, Nash said, he wanted to stay as close as possible to his children, who live in Phoenix. The Lakers offered that chance - as well as a shot at title contention - and Nash said he made up his mind on July 3. "Tuesday morning, I decided O.K., it's L.A.," he said. But it took time for the Suns to resign themselves to sending Nash to the Lakers. In the meantime, an erroneous report surfaced, indicating that Nash was set to join the Knicks. It took until the evening of July 4 for the Suns to pull the trigger on the deal. "I felt really bad because I had to leave New York and Toronto waiting in the wings," Nash said. Because if Phoenix didn't do it, I had to choose. Which one would he have chosen? "I'm not going to say," he said. Both had a huge opportunity. Neither city could offer what Los Angeles did: proximity to his family. "I knew that if I were in New York or Toronto, no matter what, I'm going to see my kids far, far less," Nash said. Whereas here I've already seen them four or five times in six weeks. So that's it. The basketball stuff is luckily awesome, too. But that was really secondary.