Steve Nash: Top 10 Moments With The Phoenix Suns

5. Moving Up The All-Time Assist Leaderboard

As part of the most dynamic pick-and-roll duo since John Stockton and Karl Malone (more on this in a bit), Steve Nash was one of the best facilitators the NBA has ever seen. He led the league in assists six times (all with the Suns) and averaged 9.4 assists per game in his 10 seasons in Phoenix.

What’s impressive is that number includes his first two seasons in the league, when he hardly played because the Suns had Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson and Sam Cassell on the roster already. In his second stint with the Suns, Nash averaged 11.5 assists per game.

On Apr. 8, 2014, Nash moved into third on the all-time assist leaderboard, passing Mark Jackson’s 10,334 dimes in the process. His 10,335th assist came on a fast break dunk by Jodie Meeks Goran Dragic in front of a completely lethargic roaring crowd at Staples Center US Airways Center. (In case you didn’t notice, we’re ignoring that this Nash achievement came with the Lakers).

Ok, so maybe it didn’t happen in Phoenix, but since 6,997 of Nash’s 10,335 career assists came with the Suns, and since only 419 of them came in his time in Los Angeles, we’re counting this. Besides, at that point in the Lakers’ season, only Steve Nash die-hards in Phoenix were still tuning in to watch that team Lakers team play anyway.

It’s sad that that was actually the last assist of Nash’s career, since he was sidelined with a hamstring injury he sustained in that game. Nash would never play another NBA game after that and he’d never record another dime, but it was enough to put him exactly one assist ahead of Jackson for third all-time. You can’t make this stuff up.

Next: No. 4