The NBA champion Golden State Warriors hired two-time Most Valuable Player Steve Nash as a player development consultant, the team announced Friday.
In this capacity, Nash will be embedded with the Warriors periodically throughout the season, working on-court with the team.
“Steve Nash was one of the best guards to ever play in this league and we are so happy to add him to our staff and have him working with our players,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said in a statement. “Even though he possessed incredible individual skills and abilities, Steve always played the game with a team-first mentality, which is something that we emphasize greatly within our group.
“Steve and I have a great relationship from our time together in Phoenix while I was general manager, and we share a lot of beliefs about how the game should be played and about the work ethic that goes in to being great. I can’t wait to work with him again and have him around our team.”
Nash, 41, enjoyed a 19-year NBA playing career with the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers. An eight-time NBA All-Star, he won back-to-back MVP awards while with the Suns in 2004-05 and 2005-06, becoming just the 10th player in NBA history to win the award in consecutive seasons.
The 6-foot-3 point guard was a six-time All-NBA performer, garnering first-team recognition three times (2005, 2006, 2007), second team once (2008) and third team twice (2002, 2003). For his career, Nash averaged 14.3 points, 8.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 31.3 minutes per contest in 1,217 regular-season games. He also appeared in 120 playoff games, averaging 17.3 points and 8.8 assists.
“I look forward to joining Coach Kerr and his great staff and helping out in any way that I can,” Nash said. “The Warriors played such a beautiful style of team basketball last season and it’s a style that I am very familiar with and enjoyed playing throughout my career. This team is extremely talented, as they proved in winning the championship last season, but they also have a number of core players who are relatively young in their careers. That is a very unique blend and I’m excited about the opportunity to work with these guys and hopefully pass along some of the lessons that I learned during my career.”
In March, Nash announced his retirement as a player. His back injury prevented him from playing last season with the Lakers. He played in only 65 games over the last three seasons with the Lakers because of injuries.
Last month, the Suns announced they will induct Nash into the team’s Ring of Honor this season. He will be honored on Friday, Oct. 30, at halftime of the Suns-Portland Trail Blazers game at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
A former member of the Canadian National Team who grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Nash attended Santa Clara University.