Steve Nash

Stephen John Nash is a Canadian former professional basketball player and coach. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on February 7, 1974, to a Welsh mother and English father, he moved with his family to Regina, Saskatchewan, at 18 months old before settling in Victoria, British Columbia. He holds both British and Canadian citizenship. Growing up, he played soccer, ice hockey, rugby, and lacrosse, and he did not start playing basketball until he was 12 or 13 years old. He attended Mount Douglas Secondary School before transferring to St. Michaels University School, where he starred in basketball, soccer, and rugby. In his senior basketball season, he averaged 21.3 points, 11.2 assists, and 9.1 rebounds per game, leading his team to the 1991–92 British Columbia AAA provincial championship title while earning the province's Player of the Year honors.

Nash earned a scholarship to Santa Clara University, where he played four seasons from 1992 to 1996 and graduated with a degree in sociology. He led the Broncos to three NCAA tournament appearances and was twice named the West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Year. By the end of his college career, he was Santa Clara's all-time leader in assists, free throw percentage, and three-pointers made and attempted. In September 2006, Santa Clara retired his jersey number 11, making him the first student-athlete at the school to receive that honor.

Selected 15th overall by the Phoenix Suns in the 1996 NBA draft, Nash played two seasons in Phoenix before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998. During his six seasons with Dallas, he developed into a top point guard, earning his first two NBA All-Star Game selections and two All-NBA Third Team honors. Alongside Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley, he helped lead the Mavericks to the 2003 Western Conference Finals.

Nash returned to the Phoenix Suns as a free agent in 2004. In the 2004–05 season, he led Phoenix to a league-best 62–20 record and a Western Conference finals appearance while averaging 11.5 assists per game. He was named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the 2004–05 season, becoming the first Canadian to earn the award. He won the MVP award again in the 2005–06 season after guiding the Suns to a 54–28 record and another division title, and finished as the runner-up for the award in 2006–07. Across his 18-season NBA career, Nash was an eight-time All-Star and a seven-time All-NBA selection, ranking among the top players in league history in total assists, assists per game, free-throw percentage, and three-point shooting percentage.

Internationally, Nash represented the Canadian men's national basketball team from 1991 to 2003, competing in one Olympic Games and twice earning FIBA AmeriCup MVP honors. He later served as the team's general manager from 2012 to 2019. In addition to his basketball career, Nash has been a co-owner of the Major League Soccer team Vancouver Whitecaps FC since 2011.

Nash has received numerous honors for his career and philanthropic contributions. He was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world in 2006, appointed to the Order of Canada in 2007 (invested in 2016), and awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Victoria in 2008. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018 and named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021.