Suns Legend Joining Team As Senior Advisor

For the first time since 2012, Steve Nash is living in the Valley. The former point guard will join the Phoenix Suns as a senior advisor, team owner Mat Ishbia stated on Monday. It will be Nash’s first front office role.

“Steve Nash was an amazing player and exactly what the Phoenix Suns are all about,” Ishbia said on X. “His grit, toughness, and winning mentality have defined our organization in the past…(He) will help us define our future for years to come.”

Suns Legend Joining Team As Senior Advisor

Nash’s Time With the Suns

It seems that every decade of Suns history has a star player. Nash was that for the 2000s.

Drafted 15th overall by Phoenix in 1996, Nash mainly starred as a bench player before joining the Dallas Mavericks in 1998. He returned to Arizona six years later as the team’s crown jewel. Winning back-to-back MVPs in 2005 and 2006, the point guard was known for his ball-handling abilities. He averaged over 10 assists per game in every season, except 2008-09, during his second stint with the team. Nash also spearheaded the team’s point production, averaging double figures in those seasons as well.

Working alongside Amar’e Stoudemire, Shawn Marion and Shaquille O’Neal, the Suns excelled with Nash on the court. They made the postseason five times between 2004 and 2010. This included getting the Western Conference’s top seed in the 2004-05 campaign, losing to eventual champions San Antonio Spurs in the conference finals.

Nash left the Valley for the Los Angeles Lakers thirteen years ago, and retired after an injury-ridden 2013-14 season.

Since Retirement

The former Sun has taken on multiple post-retirement roles. It started in 2015, when he became a part-time consultant for the dynasty driven Golden State Warriors. During his two-year tenure in the Bay Area, they posted a 73-9 regular season record and won the 2017 NBA championship, avenging their Finals loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers the year prior.

Switching coasts after a brief hiatus, Nash became the Brooklyn Nets’ head coach on September 3rd, 2020. He led the team featuring James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to the NBA playoffs during the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. He and the Nets parted ways on November 1st, 2022.