With the Phoenix Suns just having fired Jeff Hornacek as head coach, Chris Mannix of The Vertical is reporting that the team will most likely pursue former player Steve Nash to replace him. However, ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that Nash doesn’t seem to be interested in making the move to the bench just yet.
Nash has no head coaching experience, having just played his last NBA season in 2013-14 (while also being under contract with the Lakers for 2014-15). This season, Nash has worked as a “part-time consultant” for the Golden State Warriors.
Nash spent two different tenures with the Suns in his playing career, ending with him being traded away from Phoenix on both occasions. Phoenix drafted Nash 15th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft, and he played as a backup point guard behind Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd in his first two seasons.
In June 1998, the Dallas Mavericks acquired Nash for three players and a first-round pick, which would be used to select Shawn Marion. Nash and Marion would unite starting in the summer of 2004, when Nash returned to the Suns as a free agent. In the summer of 2012, the Suns traded Nash to the Lakers for four draft picks, including two first-rounders — one of them being the Lakers’ top-three-protected pick that’s now owned by the Philadelphia 76ers.