On Saturday, Canadian basketball icon Steve Nash officially retired after 19 seasons in the NBA.
The 41-year-old didn’t have an ideal ending to his playing career, with injury forcing him out for the better part of his final three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.
However, no matter how it may have ended, Nash will always be remembered for the man who became “Captain Canada” at his best.
Here’s a look back at five of his greatest moments.
The 1996 Draft
Drafted 15th overall in the legendary 1996 NBA Draft, Nash became the highest drafted Canadian since Bill Wennington was taken 16th-overall in 1985. He would remain the highest-ever drafted Canadian until 2011 when Tristan Thompson went fourth-overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Getting drafted was a culmination of the hard work Nash first put in to even get noticed by an NCAA school (with Santa Clara finally the only school to look his way) as well as the great moments he had at Santa Clara that includes upsetting Arizona as a No. 15 seed in his freshman year and being named WCC player of the year in his junior and senior years.
Qualifying for the Olympics
During the 1999 Tournament of the Americas, Nash led Canada to its first Olympic berth since 1988, when Canada knocked off Puerto Rico 83-71 in order to reach the Tournament final and an automatic bid into the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Canada hasn’t returned to the Olympics ever since.
Sportsnet’s Michael Grange provides an in-depth look on the overall impact this tournament would ultimately have on Nash’s career.
2005 Western Conference Semifinals vs Mavericks
Upon his return to Phoenix in 2005, Nash was named league MVP and had the Suns poised to make a run at a title after having won a league-best 62 games.
Phoenix ultimately fell short of its, goal, losing to the San Antonio Spurs in the West final, but Nash had one of his finest moments in the West semi where he was able to get the best of his old Dallas Mavericks teammates that included a heroic 39-point, 12-assist performance in the deciding sixth game of the series.
Back-to-back MVPs
Nash is of just one of 10 players in NBA history to be named NBA MVP in consecutive years, joining Bill Russell, Wilt Champberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan Tim Duncan and, most recently, LeBron James.
That not impressive enough for you? Take a look at how Nash improved across the board from his 2005 MVP season to his 2006 one:
2005: 15.5 PPG, 11.5 APG, 50.2 FG%, 43.1 3FG%, 88.7 FT%
2006: 18.8 PPG, 10.5 APG, 51.2 FG%, 43.9 3FG%, 92.1 FT%
The Bloody Nose
Really now, is there anything more “Canadian” than this? Who else still thinks it’s silly he wasn’t able to get back into the game?
