Former NBA star Steve Nash admitted in an interview with LeBron James that he "wanted to be Black" when he started his basketball career.
On the latest episode of their podcast series Mind the Game, Nash spoke about his basketball journey, from his teens to becoming an eight-time All-Star and two-time MVP.
"Started playing basketball, fell in love with it," he told LeBron around the 30-minute mark of the episode. Like, the first Air Jordan 1 Spike Lee commercial... It was right when I was in the eighth grade. I started playing when I was in seventh grade, going into eighth grade. I was like, 'This world's amazing. And let's also just be real; I wanted to be Black."
Nash explained that he felt the way he did because all the best players in the league were Black, and all the best rappers are Black.
"So I'm trying to emulate anyone who had something about him," he continued. Throughout his career, Nash earned a reputation for his swagger on the court, especially as a white guy from Canada.
LeBron said that he and his teammates have made similar observations about Austin Reeves of the Los Angeles Lakers, who grew up in Arkansas.
"It's so funny you say that because we say the same shit about AR," LeBron said. "We're like, 'There's no way you learned that in fucking Arkansas. It's like, Markieff Morris—we call him 'Smooth' on the team—it's like, 'No, I'm not believing you're from Arkansas. You got to be from New Jersey or whatever. All that—you got that bop, bop, bop. You didn't learn that shit in Arkansas.'"
Reaves recently said that he believes there's a stereotype about white NBA players. "You know, as a white guy in the NBA, I sometimes look at white players and I'm like, 'They're not very good,'" Reaves said. "So, it's a stigma that I think is real."
Watch the full Mind the Game episode above.