Steve Nash Admits To LeBron James He “Wanted To Be Black”

Steve Nash made a somewhat shocking and surprising admission to LeBron James during a recent episode of their joint-effort podcast.

During the latest episode of the Mind The Game podcast co-hosted by James and Nash, who replaced JJ Redick after he became the Lakers head coach, the NBA Hall of Famer got candid when asked a simple yet loaded question by LeBron: “Where did you get your swag from?” Without hesitation, Nash launched into a revealing response giving insight into the early influences that shaped both his game and his identity on the court.

“I started playing basketball, fell in love with it—like the first Air Jordan one, Spike Lee commercials,” Nash began, laughing as he admitted the memory came rushing back. “It was right when I was in the 8th grade.”

He recalled picking up the game a year earlier, during the summer heading into 8th grade, and being instantly captivated.

“I was like, this world’s amazing,” Nash said.

Then came the part that caught LeBron off guard—and had him drawing comparisons to a current Lakers teammate, in the process.

“I mean, let’s also just be real,” Nash continued. “Like, I wanted to be black. Listen, listen. All the best players in the world were black, all the best rappers, you know.”

LeBron couldn’t help but crack up, immediately jumping in with a comparison of his own to the Lakeshow’s current rising star, guard Austin Reaves.

“It’s so funny you say that, because we say the same s### about A.R.,” James said in part.

According to James, Reaves, the Arkansas-born guard who’s earned a reputation for crafty handles and unexpected finesse, is often teased by teammates who seemingly have drawn the same conclusion as Nash did about himself in their own assessments of his game.

“There’s no way you learned that in f###### Arkansas,” James said, imitating conversations he and others have had. “Markeiff [Morris], as we call his smooth on the team, is like, ‘no, f### that. I’m not believing you from Arkansas, you got to be from New Jersey or whatever. All of that, you got that bop, bop, bop, bop. Like, you didn’t learn that s### in Arkansas’.”

Returning to his own story, Nash said the same drive to study and mimic the greats likely fueled Reaves’ style too.

“I’m sure he, like me, was like, ‘I want to do more with the ball. I want to be able to beat better players off the dribble,” Nash explained. “You want to emulate the greats.”

Watch the full podcast in the video above.

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