In an out-of-nowhere move, the Los Angeles Lakers swooped in and picked up Steve Nash for a package of practically nothing in an NBA free agent sign-and-trade transaction that will send shockwaves throughout the league.

The Suns are also reported to be getting $3 million (all figures U.S.) in the transaction to help ease their pain.

The deal — first reported by a Phoenix radio station — leaves the Raptors and New York Knicks scurrying for Plan B as they are left holding bags of money and players they earmarked for the 38-year-old Nash.

Nash is to get a three-year deal worth about $27 million from the Lakers once the league’s moratorium on signing new contracts is lifted July 11. It’s a far cry from the $36 million offer he had from Toronto but he is exponentially closer to winning his first NBA title with the Lakers than he would have been in Toronto.

It will be a huge blow to the Knicks, who were seemingly close to adding Nash in the middle of the day, and to the Raptors, who took their best shot at signing the most significant free agent from another team in franchise history.

The Raptors are being silent on the matter; the only on-the-record quote — “We gave it our best shot” — came from president and general manager Bryan Colangelo in the early afternoon Wednesday when it appeared near certain the Knicks and Suns had the parameters of a sign-and-trade deal in place that would have landed Nash in New York for three years.

But with Nash gone, it will ramp up the public pressure on Colangelo, who will have failed to attract the most significant free agent he has ever chased in Toronto.

The pursuit of Nash was always as much about returning the franchise to relevancy as his unique skill set.

Would any fan be truly comfortable if the Raptors paid Houston’s Goran Dragic what he wants — somewhere in the four-year, mid-$40-million range — at cost of future additions and the loss of Jose Calderon and his expiring contract worth more than $10 million. That would seem to be a steep price to pay for a young guard who put up pretty solid numbers in 28 starts with a non-playoff team in Houston at the end of a lockout abbreviated season.

The same goes for Jeremy Lin, who has more than a few detractors in the Raptors hierarchy who would surely try to talk Colangelo out of selling the farm for another relatively unproven youngster.

A Calderon-Lowry combination at point guard — even if the trade price is steep — might be far more palatable to the coaching staff than either Dragic or Lin on long-term deals with Jerryd Bayless as the backup.

But with Nash no longer a factor in New York, the Knicks almost assuredly will look to keep the restricted free-agent Lin, who was expected to receive an offer sheet from Houston.

Losing out on Nash, though, will be a telling blow to a Toronto franchise that hasn’t been in the playoffs in four years.

Toronto also has an offer sheet for three years and about $20 million out to New York guard Landry Fields, proposed at least in part to keep him out of any Knicks-Suns sign-and-trade but it’s unclear now whether New York will match that offer next week.

While it is true Colangelo took the best shot he could and came up short because Nash wanted to go elsewhere, a quick foray by Toronto into the trade or free agent waters will have at least a bit of a soothing effect.

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