Whether you were alive at the time or not, the 1996 NBA Draft class will go down as arguably the greatest in league history amongst many fans across the world. This is a class that also included Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and recent Hall of Fame inductee in point guard Steve Nash.
During an interview with ClutchPoints' own Ryan Ward on Wednesday, Bryant opened up about himself and Nash not getting the proper respect they deserved very early in their NBA careers.
“All the media were sitting around the top, big-name players. We would be sitting in the corner twiddling our thumbs,” Bryant said.
The two of them, who were rivals for many seasons and eventually got to be teammates alongside one another, made their mark in the NBA as two of the most prolific guards in NBA history.
Nash, who was recently selected as an inductee for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, gets the utmost amount of respect from Bryant regarding what he accomplished over his illustrious career.
“Steve, I’m extremely happy for Steve. Steve, I remember he & I kind of being the outcasts there in that ’96 draft that nobody was really talking about,”
During a legendary NBA career that stretched 1,052 games over 18 seasons, Nash averaged 14.3 points on 49.0 percent shooting from the field (including 42.8 percent from behind the arc), 8.5 assists, and 3.0 rebounds in roughly 31.3 minutes of action per contest.
Nash played 10 seasons with the Phoenix Suns, six seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, and concluded his career with his last two seasons spent with Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
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