Damian Lillard was sitting on the Trail Blazers' bench at the Moda Center before a recent game when someone brought up the name Steve Nash.

The Blazers' All-Star point guard lifted his arm and pointed across the court to the far end, instinctively noting the spot where the play occurred, where Nash's career crumbled and the two players became forever intertwined.

"Right down there is where we collided," Lillard said, pointing at an opposing player hoisting shots during pregame warmups.

It's been 12 days since Nash announced he was retiring after 18 Hall of Fame years, his body too brittle to survive the rigors of an 82-game NBA season. But the beginning of the end for Nash really happened three seasons ago during a game in Portland, when he and Lillard rammed into one another late in the first half of the Blazers' 2012-13 season-opener at the Moda Center. So as the Blazers prepare to face Nash's Los Angeles Lakers Friday night, Lillard can't help but ponder the possibilities of what might be had fate not forced the two point guards into that fluke collision.

"I wonder if he would still be playing now if we hadn't had that run in," Lillard said.

Lillard took the news of Nash's retirement hard. In a variety of ways, from the way he played to the path he took to reach the NBA, Nash paved the way for Lillard's ascent to NBA stardom. Nash revolutionized the position during his career, using freedom and creativity, playmaking and scoring, to play an exciting brand of basketball at a time point guards were mostly asked to run an exact offense and set up teammates.

What's more, Lillard identified with Nash's path to the NBA. Despite playing college basketball at Santa Clara, a mid-major school in the West Coast Conference, he defied odds to become a first-round pick and, ultimately, a star, who finished with the third-most assists in NBA history. As Lillard was finding his way at Weber State, Nash was always example No. 1 that he could achieve anything from anywhere.

"He's always been an inspiration," Lillard said. "I was always a fan. I'm from the Bay Area, so I knew of him at Santa Clara."

So when he thinks back to Halloween Night in 2012, Lillard's first NBA game, he has mixed emotions. On the one hand, Lillard sparkled in his debut, finishing with 23 points and 11 assists, joining Oscar Robertson and Isiah Thomas as the only players in NBA history to record at least 20 points and 10 assists in their debuts. On the other hand, there was The Play.

LaMarcus Aldridge had just snared a rebound and twisted to find Lillard and pass him the ball. Lillard was only a few feet away, but Nash was nearby, positioned behind him outside the three-point line.

Lillard strolled further toward the perimeter, unaware Nash was near, and they collided awkwardly. Lillard stepped on Nash's left foot with his left foot, then as his momentum continued to push him forward, Lillard crunched Nash's left leg with his right knee. Lillard stumbled. Nash instantly scooped up his knee with his arm and winced, hobbling down court to play defense. At the time, the play seemed uncomfortable but harmless, a random collision in a physical game full of them.

But Nash suffered a fracture in his left leg, then was plagued by nerve damage as a result, ailments that forced him to miss roughly two months of his debut season with Dwight Howard and the Lakers, a team expected to contend for an NBA championship. Nash returned later that season, but he was never the same player, finishing with modest averages of 12.7 points and 6.7 assists in 50 games. A season later, he played just 15 games, a disheartening swan song for a player who helped to revolutionize the way point guards were used and, in many ways, how the NBA game was played.

Nash first became a household name with the Dallas Mavericks at the turn of the century, playing sidekick to Dirk Nowitzki. Later, Nash joined the Phoenix Suns and coach Mike D'Antoni, and their "Seven seconds or less" offense changed the league. Nash's unique blend of playmaking and scoring altered the way coaches used point guards and helped set the table for today's point guard-heavy landscape. Stephen Curry. Chris Paul. Russell Westbrook. Lillard. They all owe bits of their styles to Nash, who won two MVPs and was at the forefront of the point guard revolution.

And that makes Lillard sheepish about his part in Nash's decline. To be sure, Lillard didn't end Nash's career. Nash played 63 games afterward. But his health steadily deteriorated after they collided. He was never the same.

"It was an unfortunate injury," Lillard said. "It didn't even feel like it was a bad collision. I was sorry it happened."

So instead of facing an icon he idolized as a kid, Lillard will be forced to ponder what could have been as he roams the Staples Center on Friday night.

"He had a great career, played a long time," Lillard said. "He will be remembered as one of the greats."

--Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman