As a player, Steve Nash achieved amazing success, leading the Suns to the top of the standings for years before retiring as one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game.
As a coach, however, Nash isn’t nearly as accomplished. Since taking over as coach, the Nets have been a disorganized mess both on and off the court. And with little postseason success to show for his tenure, one could say that Steve’s run in Brooklyn was a failure.
It’s why the Nets fired him just a few games into the season and why Kevin Durant asked for his job before the season even started. Now, Nash is out after just two seasons, and Durant is no doubt partly responsible for it.
Shannon Sharpe Criticized Kevin Durant For Turning His Back On His Former Coach
Kevin Durant was the one who seemingly asked for Nash, but he really didn’t give him much of a chance before giving up on him completely. On Undisputed Wednesday morning, NBA analyst Shannon Sharpe went after the 2x champ for not sticking with his guy.
“Skip, a professional is what you do. A pro is who you are,” said Shannon. “I’m listening to KD talk last night, and he don’t even seem upset at all. Somebody tell me they lose their job and even if I don’t know that person I feel bad. KD said ‘things like that happen all the time in the NBA.’ Really? That happened on your watch. Skip Bayless been telling me for the past six years he’s the best player. The best player in the NBA got a coach fired on his watch and you don’t feel bad? Steve Nash had two exceptionally skilled offensive players. Neither one are a leader. You look at Kevin Durant when he’s had his most success, he was in Golden State…”
It was a scathing rant from Shannon with a lot of solid points. But he wasn’t done just yet. In the second half of his soliloquy, he revealed just how much blame he puts on Durant.
“KD doesn’t want to lead,” Sharpe continued. “He doesn’t want that responsibility. There’s a responsibility that comes with being a leader. Because guess what? Leaders are gonna get blamed. He has been able to escape blame his entire career! I blame Joe Tsai and I blame Sean Marks because they have these guys this power and not everyone can handle power.”
https://twitter.com/undisputed/status/1587810953801830400
Unless we see some kind of major turnaround, this season (and the entirety of his Brooklyn tenure) will not reflect well on KD’s legacy.
When he went to Brooklyn in 2019, people assumed he’d be competing for championships consistently. Instead, he has been an example of what not to do when leading a team.
