Steve Nash

Stephen John Nash (born 7 February 1974) is a Canadian professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He played 18 seasons in the NBA, where he was an eight-time All-Star and a seven-time All-NBA selection.

Nash was a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player while playing for the Phoenix Suns.

After a successful high school basketball career in British Columbia, Nash earned a scholarship to Santa Clara University in California.

In his four seasons with the Broncos, the team made three NCAA tournament appearances, and he was twice named the West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Year.

Nash was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Welsh mother, Jean, and English father, John, on 7 February 1974.

His family moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, when he was 18 months old, before settling in Victoria, British Columbia.

He, therefore, holds British as well as Canadian citizenship.

Before the family settled in Canada, his father played professional soccer in various parts of the world.

Nash often played soccer and ice hockey with his younger brother Martin, and he did not start playing basketball until he was 12 or 13 years old.

In grade eight, however, he told his mother that one day he would play in the NBA and become a star.

He was a neighbour to future NHL stars Russ and Geoff Courtnall, who used to babysit him and played soccer coached by Nash's father.

Nash originally attended Mount Douglas Secondary School in Saanich, British Columbia, but after his grades began to drop, his parents decided to enroll him at St. Michaels University School, a private school in Victoria.

There, he starred in basketball, soccer, and rugby union.

While playing basketball during his senior season, Nash averaged 21.3 points, 11.2 assists, and 9.1 rebounds per game.

In the 1991–92 season, he led his team in his final year to the British Columbia AAA provincial championship title, and was named the province's Player of the Year.

Although Nash's high school coach, Ian Hyde-Lay, sent letters of inquiry and highlight reels to over 30 American universities, Nash was not recruited by any university, until Santa Clara coach Dick Davey requested video footage of the young guard.

After watching Nash in person, Davey said he "was nervous as hell just hoping that no one else would see him. It didn't take a Nobel Prize winner to figure out this guy's pretty good. It was just a case of hoping that none of the big names came around."

However, Davey also told Nash he was "the worst defensive player" he had ever seen.

Nash was awarded a scholarship by Santa Clara for the 1992–93 season.

At the time, it had been five years since the Broncos appeared in the NCAA tournament.

That changed when Nash led the Broncos to a WCC tournament title and an upset win over the No. 2 seeded Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

In that game, Nash scored six straight free throws in the last 30 seconds of the contest.

Although Temple defeated Santa Clara in the next round, the 1992–93 campaign was considered a successful one.

Nash graduated from Santa Clara as the team's all-time leader in assists and was taken as the 15th pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns.

He had minimal impact and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998.

By his fourth season with the Mavericks, he was voted to his first NBA All-Star Game and earned his first All-NBA selection.

Together with Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley, Nash led the Mavericks to the Western Conference Finals the following season.

He became a free agent after the and returned to the Phoenix Suns.

In the, Nash led the Suns to the Western Conference finals and was named the league's MVP.

He was named MVP again in the and was runner-up for a third consecutive MVP to Nowitzki in 2006–07.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest point guards of all time.

Nash led the league in assists and free throw percentage at various points in his career.

He is also ranked as one of the top players in NBA league history in three-point shooting, free throw shooting, total assists, and assists per game.

Nash has been honoured for his contributions to various philanthropic causes.

In 2006, he was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Nash was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2007 and invested to the order in 2016, and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Victoria in 2008.

Nash has been a co-owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) since the team entered the league in 2011.

From 2012 to 2019, he served as general manager of the Canadian men's national basketball team, for whom he played from 1991 to 2003, making one Olympic appearance and being twice named FIBA AmeriCup MVP.

In 2021, Nash was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.