Steve Nash Reveals Steph Curry Embarrassed Him Into Retiring as True Feelings Laid Bare

Before Steph Curry entered the NBA in the late 2000s, Steve Nash had made a name for himself as a lights-out shooter who moved gracefully all across the court. As the paths of these two MVPs collided, Nash apparently came to a realization that would impact his career.

On Tuesday's episode of "Mind the Game," the Basketball Hall of Famer recalled how his encounters with a young Curry led him to the decision to hang up his sneakers. With the Golden State Warriors superstar making a guest appearance on the podcast, Nash explained how he went from feeling good about himself at the tail end of his career to feeling exhausted by having to chase Curry around.

"When he came in the league, I still felt like the big brother. I got the upper hand." Nash said. "Then he started becoming who he is, and the pendulum shifted."

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According to Nash, his body felt very much banged up by the time he entered his 18th training camp, which was prior to the 2013-14 season. When the then-LA Lakers guard found out that he'd be going up against Curry and the Warriors in a preseason game, he saw an opportunity to find out if he could still keep up.

"I'm guarding Steph, and I think they put up 50 in the first quarter," Nash recounted. "He's running everywhere, [my] back is broke. I couldn't stop him if I was 100%."

Nash, a two-time MVP like Curry, admitted that moments like these led him to call it a career at the end of the 2013-14 season. With a smile on his face, Curry added that Nash would later join the Warriors as a consultant, teaching intricacies like the pick and roll.

"This is the happiest I've been": Steph Curry jokes around while watching Finals clips with LeBron James

On the same episode of "Mind the Game," Nash played clips of NBA Finals encounters between his podcast co-host LeBron James and their special guest Curry.

At one point, Curry noticed something interesting in the Finals clips and made a joke about it.

"Is that you guarding Draymond?" Curry asked James. "This is the happiest I've ever been, watching this game."

In the mid- and late-2010s, Curry and James had met each other in the Finals for four consecutive seasons. Curry won thrice while James orchestrated a dramatic comeback from a 1-3 series deficit to win the 2016 NBA championship.

Edited by Simoun Victor Redoblado