It's probably safe to say that every basketball fan got a bit wide-eyed upon learning that the Brooklyn Nets just hired Hall of Famer Steve Nash as the team's new head coach. As it turns out, even NBA players were as shocked as we were, and we've rounded out some of the best reactions from the mean streets of Twitter.

Guys like Isaiah Thomas, Terrence Ross, and Dorell Wright could not hide their excitement in what is undeniably a shocker from the Nets here:

Nash has zero experience in being a head coach, which is the primary reason why most folks were taken aback by this Nets decision. However, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest point guards in the history of the sport, and the general assumption for most is that this should translate accordingly to his new position.

This is exactly what former two-time All-Star Baron Davis had in mind, and this Nash hiring even got him thinking about having a run at a coaching job as well:

Not everyone was pleased about the signing, though. Retired NBA big man Trevor Booker could not hide his disappointment with his former team, calling them out for overlooking a number of “well qualified” Black coaches in favor of Nash:

https://twitter.com/35_Fitz/status/1301524638917427206

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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion here, and we can't say that Booker is wrong when he said that there are more than a few African American coaches out there that, on paper, are much more qualified than the inexperienced Nash. As Booker notes, the Nets are keeping on interim head coach Jacque Vaughn as the top assistant.

Richard Jefferson tried to push back on the idea that Nash isn't qualified and didn't want to make this hiring about “anything else,” which seemingly is a reference to the race conversation:

Whatever the case may be, this is a risk for the Nets. It's the type of move that can fail miserably, or turn out to be an absolute stroke of genius. We'll just have to wait and see.