Point guard Steve Nash announced his retirement Saturday after a 19-year NBA career that included two MVP awards. Nash, 41, made the announcement in a letter on The Players' Tribune website. The Canadian's back injury prevented him from playing this season with the Los Angeles Lakers. He played in only 65 games over the last three seasons with the Lakers because of injuries. "The greatest gift has been to be completely immersed in my passion and striving for something I loved so much -- visualizing a ladder, climbing up to my heroes," Nash wrote on the website. Nash won MVP awards in 2005 and 2006 while playing for the Phoenix Suns. In his career, he averaged 14.3 points and 8.5 assists in 1,217 games. Nash, an eight-time All-Star, is third in NBA history with 10,335 assists, trailing John Stockton and Jason Kidd. Nash also is the best free-throw shooter in NBA history at 90.4 percent.