“Kawhi Leonard is like Neo for the Toronto Raptors”: Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson debate whether the Clippers star should have his jersey retired in Toronto

Steve Nash was a player development coach for Golden State when Kawhi Leonard led Toronto to its first NBA championship.

Nash is the first notable player from Canada, for which he’s considered a trailblazer of sorts. He was born in South Africa, but his parents moved to British Columbia when he was very young.

He came through the province’s high school system, eventually leading St. Michaels to a provincial championship. For this, Steve Nash was given Player of the Year honors.

However, a path to the NBA required youngsters to be on the scouts’ radar. And this was nearly impossible for Nash given his geographic location. His high school coach sent tapes of his games to many universities.

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Only one D1 college recruited Nash, as he told Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on the Knuckleheads podcast. He also made a few other revelations through the course of this 2019 interview.

Kawhi Leonard deserves to have his jersey retired by the Toronto Raptors – Steve Nash

Q & D ease their guests through their interviews so masterfully that they’re able to ask the tough questions easily. This aspect of their podcasting shone through especially in this interview with Steve Nash.

As you’d expect from the persona he displays to the public, Nash’s answers to questions were quite vanilla. It takes a lot of maneuvering to get a true hot take out of a guy like Nash who picks his words well.

But they were able to get a nice answer out of the current Nets head coach regarding Kawhi Leonard. Nash was a player development consultant for the Warriors who helped Kevin Durant and their other shooters improve their technique and efficiency.

He was on the Golden State bench as he saw the Klaw deliver Canada its first ever NBA championship. It was a moment of pride for his countrymen, and Nash freely admits that he’s a Kawhi fan for this.

The 2-time MVP also responded affirmatively when asked whether the Raptors should retire Kawhi’s jersey:

“I don’t see why not, unless they win a bunch of championships. If they don’t win another championship in another 10-15 years and it doesn’t look like they’re on the verge, why wouldn’t you retire the jersey?”

“The game is about winning championships. He came here one year, won you a championship. I could see it if they win like, you know, 5-6 more. But he gave you the ultimate experience.”

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