Former Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash had quite the career in the NBA with what he did as a player after spending 18 years in the league. Nash tried to continue his legacy through coaching in Brooklyn and while that didn’t work out in his favor, he still found a way to influence one of the best players in the Association today that hails from Canada.
“It would be amazing (to win the championship during his MVP season). Steve, obviously, [he’s] the pioneer for Canadian basketball,” Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said during NBA Finals Media Day on Wednesday. Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are looking to take on the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals on Thursday, but he gave some praise to Nash for what he did, not only for him, but for Canada as well.
“He started the whole thing, I guess you can say,” Gilgeous-Alexander continued. “From the way he plays, to the way he carries himself, to his approach to the game. I learned so much from Steve being a 17-year-old kid in two weeks of time that helped me get here, for sure. The things he’s done with Canada basketball in a hole and just push the culture forward, it’s been amazing.”
Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, is not only coming off the first MVP award of his seven-year career, but he is doing that for an Oklahoma City team that is looking like a team that’s here to stay thanks to their best players being in their early-to-mid 20’s. As of this writing, Gilgeous-Alexander is one of 25 current NBA players in the league right now and he’s the second Canadian player on the Thunder along with guard Lugentz Dort.
Nash came to America to play college basketball at Santa Clara University and from there, he worked his way into being the 15th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns. Nash also spent his time in the league playing for the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers before retiring after the conclusion of the 2014-15 campaign.