Who is Nash, Del Piero’s friend. From the NBA to the Como shirt

Playing football shouldn’t be so strange for those who, like Steve Nash, had the 10 on their backs in the twilight of his great career as a basketball player. Indeed, for the former NBA star who will play with Como in the USA at the Tst Tournament, football is an integral part of his sports career.

As a child he played football – as well as ice hockey – and, only thirteen, he landed on the parquet, evidently then forging ahead. His was a very bright career, but without titles in the NBA. And the link with football has always maintained. Personal friend of Alex Del Piero, after his retirement he was part of a consortium (with the owner of the Suns) that bought the Spanish side Mallorca. In 2013 he also trained with Inter, wearing the number 10 shirt, during a tour of the Nerazzurri in the USA. And he has a brother, Martin, a former footballer and now a coach.

At 49, the Canadian Nash – South African by birth – is ready for this challenge on the field with the colors of Como. But it is obviously in basketball that Nash has left his mark, as recalled by Fabrizio Frates, director of Pallacanestro Cantù and great expert in stars and stripes basketball: «He was an extraordinary, exciting player who inflamed fans for almost a twenty years. He was famous for three things: his three-point shooting, sensational free throw percentages and assists ».

His numbers speak for themselves: he is one of the nine NBA basketball players in the “50-40-90” club.

A club of players who, in one or more seasons, has achieved 50% field goal shooting, 40% three-point shooting, and 90% free throw shooting. And, speaking of assists, he is the fifth player ever in this ranking, with 10,335.

His name is linked to that of the Phoenix Suns but he never won anything in Arizona. At the end of his career, perhaps in the hope of being able to win the NBA ring, he moved to the Lakers, a feat that failed.

But it is a lack that certainly did not obscure a bright career: «He was a very skilled player, spectacular in his speed with his feet and in his transition to long shots: assists churned out in every way, behind the back and under the legs». Frates concluded.

His coaching career is less promising. He coached the Brooklyn Nets for two years from 2020 to 2022, an experience that ended with an exemption.