BREAKING: Mavs Ex Steve Nash Hired As Nets Head Coach
DALLAS - Former Dallas Mavericks favorite and Hall-of-Fame guard Steve Nash has signed a four-year contract to become the next coach of the Brooklyn Nets, a shocker - though given Nash’s career accomplishments, success is probably in his future.
Said Nets exec Sean Marks in making the announcement: “In Steve we see a leader, communicator and mentor who will garner the respect of our players...One of the great on-court leaders in our game, I have witnessed firsthand his basketball acumen and selfless approach to prioritize team success."
We know Steve Nash as a former member of the Dallas Mavericks in their (and his) formative years. Others know him as an MVP with the Phoenix Suns. But in his homeland?
He's "Captain Canada'' - and so it was a special thrill for him to be inducted in his country’s Sports Hall of Fame.
“The greatest experience of my career was playing the Olympic Games for Canada,” Nash noted in his 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech.
Nash, a Victoria native and former Canadian Olympic team captain will leads the Class of 2020 in Canada. And now he takes on another challenge, as while he has served as a longtime advisor to a number of NBA teams, this is his first head-coaching job.
Nash was an eight-time All-Star and a back-to-back MVP after having come from - relatively speaking - nowhere. ... "nowhere'' being British Columbia, where Nash grew up playing soccer and hockey.
“I started playing this game when I was 13 years old,'' he said. "I went to a new school and met a group of guys who, for some reason, played basketball. I played soccer and hockey. This was a new game to me. I played on our eighth-grade team and we were overconfident and cocky and formed a bond that was unbelievable.
"That love and passion for the game,'' Nash said. "is the thread of everything I have accomplished.''
Nash was traded to Dallas from Phoenix two decades ago, on the same day the Mavs obtained Dirk Nowitzki via the NBA Draft. Under then-new owner Mark Cuban and Dirk, Michael Finley and Nash, a foundation was established that led - even after Nash's free-agency departure back to Phoenix - to Dallas' pair of NBA Finals appearances in ensuing years.
His next challenge: Taking a rehabbing but talented roster in Brooklyn - featuring Kevin Durant, who got to know Nash during their time together at Golden State - and establishing a new foundation for them, and for himself.
