Steve Nash Reveals Why Stephen Curry is the Reason He Went Into Retirement

Steve Nash is one of the greatest point guards of all time. Not only did he win back-to-back NBA MVP awards, but for years, he was the example of what it meant to be a floor general point guard in the NBA. 

Unfortunately for Nash and NBA fans everywhere, the end of Nash’s career wasn’t so pretty. After years of competing (and dominating) guys twice his size, his body started to break down. 

On his podcast Mind the Game with LeBron James, Nash spoke about the end of his career and how Stephen Curry was a huge part of why he decided to call it quits. 

“We went to play these guys preseason in like Ontario, California, or somewhere. I don't even remember this. I'm guarding Stephen Curry. I think they put up like 50 in the first quarter. Maybe it was 45, but it felt like a 50-piece, right? He's running everywhere. I'm like, back is broke. I couldn't have probably stopped him even if I were 100%. And now I'm like dragging around Steve Kerr putting me in every action. I'm looking over at Steve like c’mon Stevie. He's over there smiling, too. They're laughing at me. Alvin Gentry over there laughing at me like, ‘No, let’s see what you got’. I'm like, man, literally like three, four more days of thinking on it, I was like ‘Yeah, I think it's time (to retire). And that was it. I called Mitch Kupchak.”

While it provided some great podcast entertainment, this story probably isn’t unique for the NBA. Knowing when to retire is hard to figure out. Sometimes it takes being dominated by the up-and-coming stars to realize that you can no longer hang.