Steve Nash hyped for Canada as they seal Olympic berth 23 years after he led them to 7th-place finish in Sydney
Steve Nash is without question the greatest Canadian basketball player of all time. However, he may not have had the sort of supporting cast to achieve anything of note with the national team. A seventh-place finish (out of 12 teams) in the 2000 Summer Olympics led by Nash proved to be the last time the Canadian national team made it to the grand stage of international basketball.
Despite holding NBA MVP status in the mid-2000s, Nash could not guide his country to the Olympics. But that does not seem to have made Steve Nash bitter at the success enjoyed by his successors in the Canadian national team.
After routine humiliation in recent years, the Canadian national team seems to have found their "golden generation". The current iteration of the Canadian squad ousted the likes of defending champions Spain and Luka Doncic's Slovenia on their way to the FIBA World Cup semi-finals.
Steve "Captain Canada" Nash was seen visibly beaming as he discussed the national team's achievements. Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Canadian team looks set to be a feature on the world stage for a few years to come and Steve Nash is certainly a fan.
Nash said he was watching the team make history from the comforts of his home while expressing his joy at the success of the Canadian national team.
"I was on the couch, just taking it all in...the way they did it made it extra sweet for all of us Canadians, especially us alumni," said Nash, describing how he felt upon the Canadian national team's qualification for the Paris Olympics.
Steve Nash's godson RJ Barrett is also part of the Canadian roster, adding to the former MVP's joy
Nash might not be associated with the Canadian national team in a personal capacity at present, but his godson RJ Barrett features in a starring role.
Barrett is one of the most high-profile players on the Canadian national team's roster along with the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort and Dillon Brooks. A similarly stacked supporting cast alongside Steve Nash would have probably returned glorious results too, however, fate wasn't as kind to Nash as it has been in this regard to his godson.
The Canadian national team is off to Paris in 2024 and could prove to be one of the biggest challengers to the United States' almost assumed monopoly of the Olympics.