Over the past few years, the Phoenix Suns have gone through disappointing seasons, exiting the playoffs despite talent-laden rosters. While there are several areas for improvement that the team needs to look into, the Suns organization has decided to chart its course moving forward by bringing back one of its most iconic players of the past.
On Tuesday, Suns owner Mat Ishbia went on X to let the world know that the team would be getting valuable counsel from a pioneer of the Seven Seconds or Less offense.
"Steve Nash was an amazing player and exactly what the Phoenix Suns are all about,” Ishbia tweeted. “His grit, toughness, and winning mentality have defined our organization in the past, and I’m so excited to share that Steve is formally joining the Suns as a senior adviser and will help us define our future for years to come!”
Twenty years before Kevin Durant and Devin Booker formed a high-octane partnership in the Valley, Steve Nash revolutionized a fast-paced attack that would influence how the rest of the league ran its offensive playbooks. Empowered by head coach Mike D’Antoni and backed by extremely athletic stars like Amar’e Stoudemire and Shawn Marion, the 6-foot-3 Canadian guard regularly wowed the NBA community with his dazzling passes and impeccable shooting.
From 2004 to 2010, Nash helped the Suns reach the Western Conference Finals three times. Along the way, he won two NBA MVP awards and earned five of the eight All-Star selections in his career. Though he never made it to the NBA Finals before retiring in 2015, his influence on the pace of the game earned him a spot in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Notably, this isn’t the first time that Nash has taken on an active mentoring role in the NBA. From 2015 to 2017, he served as a consultant for the loaded Golden State Warriors team bannered by Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant. Nash would reunite with Durant years later when he took on his first head coaching job at the helm of the Brooklyn Nets.
Another reunion with Durant, however, might not be happening any time soon, as the scoring machine was traded by Phoenix to Houston in July. Still, Nash would have plenty to work with on the Suns roster that features talented scorers like Booker and Jalen Green, as well as defensive ace Dillon Brooks.
