Any Steve Nash bio could talk about the number of MVP awards he won, the number of total assists he amassed in his career, or that he was one of the best pure passers the NBA has ever seen. A recap of his career would address him leading one of the most exciting teams in league history in the 2000’s Phoenix Suns, or being virtually automatic from the free throw line throughout the course of his career. His resume stacks right up there with any of the greatest point guards in basketball history.
However, his story is so much more complex once you look past the accolades of what he was able to achieve. It’s hard to appreciate now, but Steve Nash’s rise to prominence is one of the most inspiring underdog stories in sports. He came up during a time when there weren’t viral social media clips to announce a player’s potential in the world of sports.
He was not anyone’s idea of a physical specimen who could run past or jump over his opponents. Nash wasn’t going to be at the top of the power conference college basketball recruiting lists, and he wasn’t a prized can’t miss prospect at the NBA level either.
Considering where he came from, and how his journey began, it would have been difficult to predict that Steve Nash would one day end up in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He beat the odds each and every step of the way with a plethora of hard work and dedication and is now hoping to prove his worth in a different capacity as a coach.
Steve Nash – Childhood
The story of Stephen John Nash begins on February 7, 1974, in Johannesburg, South Africa, born to parents John and Jean Nash. John Nash’s athletic pursuits are a key part of his son’s story, as the elder Nash played soccer professionally in South Africa when the boy was born. Steve would travel around with his father’s team as they played games throughout Africa and Europe. Due to this level of access and familiarity with soccer, Steve Nash fell in love with a very different game than the one he would end up excelling in.
When Nash was only a couple of years old, the family decided to move to Canada. They originally arrived in Regina, Saskatchewan, but would end up making their home in Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. Even though he was no longer in a part of the world where soccer was king, Nash continued to play his favorite sport as a kid. His father was a huge fan of Tottenham football(soccer) club, and Steve would hone his skills on the pitch as if he were playing in a Premier League game. He would also partake in hockey, which was not surprising given his new location.
It wasn’t until around the eighth grade that Steve Nash would start to play basketball seriously. While his basketball skill set continued to improve, his mental approach to the game was unique and advanced even at that age. Playing soccer growing up allowed him to understand the importance of proper footwork, and predisposed him to look for angles on the court that other players were not considering. Seeing the game from a different perspective always gave Nash an interesting viewpoint as a point guard.
Steve Nash – High School
Steve Nash entered Mount Douglas Secondary School as a well-rounded athletic prospect. It was hard to say what his best sport was during that time. He played very well on the basketball court but was receiving MVP-level recognition for his game on the soccer field.
It was around this time that he would start to watch the NBA game, though, and started to respect some of the most accomplished guards in the league. He loved the way Los Angeles Lakers point guard Magic Johnson would orchestrate an offense in order to get his teammates involved in the game. Nash also respected the level of toughness and dedication that Detroit Pistons point guard Isiah Thomas displayed, as he played through injury as a smaller player at the highest level.
Unfortunately for Nash, his grades started to drop, and his parents looked to find an environment that would help him get back on track in the classroom while continuing to excel on the field. He would end up transferring to St. Michael’s University School, which was a boarding school that would end up being beneficial for his development.
Ian Hyde-Lay had an interesting approach to advancing high schoolers in athletics. Unlike the present day, where specialization and tactfulness are prioritized, Hyde-Lay believed that exposing athletes to a variety of competitive situations would help them in the long run.
As a result, as the coach of the basketball team and the rugby team, he encouraged student-athletes to play both sports. Theoretically, things could have gone really badly for Nash had he gotten seriously injured playing rugby, but he welcomed the punishing contact the sport is known for. It did make him tougher and gave him the ability to play through bumps and bruises that others would not.
In his final season at St. Michael’s, Nash had a tremendous year on the hardwood. He averaged over 21 points per game, 11 assists per game and nine rebounds per game, en route to a British Columbia championship. Steve Nash would also be honored as the provincial player of the year.
Despite his stellar senior campaign, Nash’s door wasn’t exactly getting knocked down with scholarship offers. Hyde-Lay did his best to get the word out about his star playmaker, but the Victoria hooper did not garner much attention. Santa Clara University had reserved interest, as head coach Dick Davey only initially wanted to watch tape of Nash. When he saw the footage, he was blown away, and decided to offer Nash a scholarship to come play for the Broncos.
Steve Nash – Santa Clara University
It may be surprising to learn that the future NBA Hall Famer didn’t start a single game for Santa Clara during his freshman campaign. Despite not getting a start, Steve Nash still played 24 minutes per game, and made an impact while he was on the floor.
He was an integral part of the Broncos’ shocking upset victory over the number two seeded Arizona Wildcats in the 1993 NCAA Tournament. Nash closed the game with six straight made free throws to clinch the upset. That Arizona team had several future NBA players, including Damon Stoudamire, Chris Mills and Khalid Reeves.
Steve Nash -NCAA Tournament
Although Nash made a jump with additional playing time as a sophomore, Santa Clara took a step back as they missed the NCAA tournament. His years as an upperclassman proved to be special, however. Steve Nash was named West Coast Conference Player of the Year in his junior and senior seasons and was considered to be one of the best point guards in the country. Not only was he facilitating the offense; his efficiency shooting free throws and three-pointers greatly helped the team.
He finished his college career leading the Broncos to the NCAA tournament in both years. As a junior, his team lost in the first round to an Erick Dampier-led Mississippi State team. In Nash’s senior year, they outgunned the Maryland Terrapins in round one but ended falling to a loaded Kansas Jayhawks team featuring Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz.
Nash had done all he could to elevate the level of play of a mid-major conference. During the summer, he would work out with NBA guards Jason Kidd and Gary Payton in hopes of becoming someone that the league would view as a viable prospect.
Steve Nash – First Stint With The Phoenix Suns
In a historic 1996 NBA Draft that featured several future Hall of Famers, the Phoenix Suns selected Steve Nash with the 14th overall pick. As an upper-tier first-round pick, it stood to reason that Phoenix would give Nash every opportunity to succeed. However, the 1996-1997 season turned out to be a roller-coaster campaign for a team looking to cement its future direction.
Charles Barkley had left the team during the offseason to chase a title with the Houston Rockets, leaving the Suns with an interesting mix of players. Kevin Johnson had been one of the main catalysts during Phoenix’s successful run, but had battled chronic knee issues. The Suns still weren’t willing to blow things up to embrace a rebuild, so Johnson would still factor heavily into the team’s rotation.
To make things even more intriguing, the Suns traded for Dallas Mavericks star guard Jason Kidd in December of 1996. Amidst the chaos, the team fired head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons and made Danny Ainge their head coach, who had only retired from playing two years earlier.
This proved to be a recipe that left Nash as an odd man out with the Suns. He did appear in 141 games during his first two seasons with the team, but was a fringe rotational piece at best due to the Suns’ guard depth. If he was going to find his footing in the league, it would have to be elsewhere.
Steve Nash – International Career
While the NBA was still figuring out Nash’s worth, there was no question about how valuable he was to the Canadian national basketball team. He was one of the most impressive Canadian players in the 1990s, starring in many FIBA tournaments even before he played college basketball.
The culmination of his international playing career came in the 2000 Summer Olympic games. Although Canada finished seventh in the final standings, they won five out of their seven games, in large part to Nash’s contributions.
Michael Meeks led the way in scoring during the tournament with 14.3 points per game, but Nash’s scoring(13.7 points) and playmaking(6.9 assists) was the catalyst for the Canadian offense. Interestingly enough, one of Nash’s teammates in that tournament was Rowan Barrett, who is the father of New York Knicks guard R.J. Barrett. Barrett is Nash’s godson.
Although they weren’t able to capture Olympic glory, Steve Nash’s national performance put team Canada on the map and paved the way for others to follow in the ensuing years. He would later be named the general manager for the Canadian basketball team, a role he served from 2012-2019.
Steve Nash – Dallas Mavericks
Meanwhile in the NBA, Nash got a fresh start ahead of the 1998 season, as the Suns traded him to the Dallas Mavericks. The 1998-1999 campaign was the lockout-shortened 50-game season, so it was difficult for Dallas(and a lot of teams) to get adequately prepared. Everything was thrown together pretty quickly, but the hope was that the Mavs would eventually click with young talents like Nash, Michael Finley, and rookie Dirk Nowitzki on the roster.
In the following season, head coach Don Nelson elected to bring Nash off the bench for most of the season, and it was fair to wonder whether this situation would turn into one resembling what life had looked like in Phoenix.
However, Nelson had his point guard’s back and gave him some advice that would stick with Nash for the rest of his career. The veteran coach wanted Nash to be more aggressive on offense, and not come into every single mindset with the idea of passing the ball. This was difficult for him, since he was such an unselfish player, but driving to score would force defenses to collapse on Nash, which would in turn open up passing lanes.
It would all click for the former Santa Clara star in 2000-2001. Following coach Nelson’s advice, Nash got to the free throw line more than he ever had in his career. His scoring average nearly doubled, and his assist production spiked as well. Additionally, he was growing up with a young team who was starting to make some noise in the Western Conference. The Mavericks defeated the Utah Jazz in the first round of the 2001 NBA playoffs, which still featured the likes of Jeff Hornacek, Karl Malone, and John Stockton.
There was no looking back, as Steve Nash would end up making the Western Conference All-Star team in each of his next two seasons, as Dallas became one of the best teams in the league. They made the 2003 Western Conference Finals, giving the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs a competitive series. It stood to reason that Dallas could take the next step the following year.
Unfortunately for the franchise, it did not work out that way. They took a step back, losing in the first round to the Sacramento Kings. Additionally, this iteration of the Mavs was at a crossroads, as the organization needed to decide whether they would pay Nash a lucrative contract in order to stick around.
Steve Nash – A Return To The Phoenix Suns
The Mavericks organization was worried that Nash may not hold up medically, specifically due to some back discomfort he was experiencing. Mark Cuban would go on to say many years later that not keeping Nash in Dallas was a huge mistake, but at the time they thought the decision was justified.
Ironically, the team that didn’t quite have the faith to give him the keys to the organization at the start of his career wanted him back to compliment the exciting young pieces they already had. Steve Nash would return to the Phoenix Suns, and there was no question who would be driving the car.
Head coach Mike D’Antoni stressed playing at a fast pace, and Nash was the perfect person to feed his weapons for open shots. Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson were set up for wide-open three-pointers on the fast break.
Shawn Marion would run the floor hard and be rewarded by Nash for easy layups and dunks. Amar’e Stoudemire became one of the best players in the game in this system, which accentuated his athleticism, and unlocked his ability to be an unstoppable pick and roll force. For his clear and immediate impact on the roster, Steve Nash would end up winning the NBA MVP award in the 2004-2005 season, his first season in his second stint with the franchise.
The Suns’ high-octane offense would pick up right where it left off in the prior season, and Nash would end up winning NBA MVP for a second straight year. There was some controversy as to whether Shaquille O’Neal deserved it more, but both players had phenomenal campaigns. For a second straight year, Phoenix would end up losing in the Western Conference Finals—this time, to Nash’s former mates in Dallas.
Perhaps the best team the Suns had in the Steve Nash era was the 2006-2007 edition. It is one of the most talked about “what if” teams of all time. At Game 4 of Phoenix’s second-round series with the San Antonio Spurs, Nash was fouled hard into the scorer’s table by Robert Horry.
The Suns were not happy, and Amar’e Stoudemire left the bench area to defend his teammates. Per NBA rules, players are not allowed to do this, in order to prevent situations from escalating. The series was tied two games apiece, and Stoudemire was suspended for Game 5. The Suns would end up losing the series in six games.
Despite winning 46 games, the Suns did not qualify for the postseason in 2008-2009. However, they were able to successfully regroup and made one last run in 2009-2010. Many of the players from earlier in the decade had left the team, but role players like Grant Hill, Channing Frye, Jason Richardson, and Jared Dudley helped Nash and Stoudemire make another playoff push. Unfortunately for the Suns, the Los Angeles Lakers were firing on all cylinders, as Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol led their team to a second straight NBA Finals.
The Suns were never quite the same after that. They would end up missing the postseason in each of Nash’s final two years with the franchise.
Steve Nash – Los Angeles Lakers
It is often said in life that if you cannot beat them, join them. That is exactly what Steve Nash would end up doing once his time in Phoenix came to an end. He would join a star-studded Lakers team that still had Bryant, Gasol, and now, Dwight Howard. Los Angeles was expected to compete for a title with such a well-known group, but they were unceremoniously swept by the Spurs in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs.
As it turned out, the 2013-2014 season would be Steve Nash’s last in the NBA. He only suited up for 15 games, as his back was not ever consistently healthy. He tried to play one more season, but the nerve damage in his back would not allow him to resume his responsibilities as an NBA player. Nash announced his retirement in March 2015.
Steve Nash – Post Retirement Activities
Even though he wasn’t physically able to play the game he loved, Nash would not find himself too far from the action. He was still the general manager for the Canadian national team and would be hired as a player development coach with the Golden State Warriors. Nash would have the ear of some of the best players in the NBA and help them see the game through a different vantage point.
He would also pour his time and energy into building up the Steve Nash Foundation, which focuses on helping underprivileged children in a variety of ways. One of the more popular events his foundation would host was a pickup soccer game in the middle of New York City, which would feature celebrities and athletes(including from Major League Soccer).
Steve Nash – Coaching the Brooklyn Nets
In September 2020, the NBA world was stunned when the Brooklyn Nets decided to hire Steve Nash as their head coach. No one doubted his basketball acumen, or his ability to communicate about the game on the highest level. But he had not served as a head coach or even an assistant coach previously, so the Nets were taking a huge gamble that he would be able to acclimate to the role relatively quickly. It was also a bold hire considering that he would be tasked with guiding two of the game’s elite players in Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Nash already had a relationship from his consulting days with the Warriors.
Brooklyn had one of the most interesting seasons in the NBA in 2020-2021. The team brought in James Harden to complement Durant and Irving during the season, so Nash had to adjust on the fly to having three ball-dominant players on the roster. They made it to Game 7 of the second round and had Durant’s foot not been on the three-point line at the end of that game, they would have advanced to the Conference Finals, and possibly farther.
The Nets were again one of the most polarizing teams in the NBA in 2021-2022. The franchise made another blockbuster in-season trade, this time shipping Harden out of town in exchange for Ben Simmons. Additionally, Irving was not available to play in the majority of the Nets’ home games due to his vaccination status. This combination of factors left the Nets towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff standings, and with a difficult first-round matchup against the Boston Celtics. Brooklyn would end up being swept by the eventual Eastern Conference champions.
Steve Nash – NBA Future
The Nets have made their intentions about bringing Steve Nash back for another season, but the Nets figure to be in for another dramatic offseason with their star players. It will be fascinating to see what Brooklyn’s roster looks like in a few months.
If Nash is not able to take the Nets into the second round of the playoffs or beyond next season, the organization might choose to go in a different direction. At that point, maybe the Hall of Fame point guard will choose to spend some more time with his family members, such as young son Luca Sun Nash and young daughter Ruby Jean Nash. Even if he does not prove to be the most successful coach, his resume as a player and intellect for the game cannot be questioned.
How long did Steve Nash live in Africa?
Steve Nash lived in Africa only for two years. Due to the political situation in the country, his family decided to emigrate to Canada.
How tall was Steve Nash when he was drafted?
Nash was 6 feet 3 inches tall at the time he was drafted.
Can Steve Nash dunk?
Nowadays, at 48 years old, Steve’s ability to dunk is surely hindered. In his NBA career, he attempted dunking one time and failed. Since he’s made an attempt, we can assume that he was, in fact, able to dunk, at least in a training setting.
