The Brooklyn Nets' highly speculated coaching search didn’t end with any of the usual suspects whose names get passed around when a high profile coaching job is available. Instead, the Nets chose former two-time MVP Steve Nash, who has no coaching experience in the NBA.

Some might say this hiring came out of nowhere, but there are connections between Nash and the Nets.

On the Locked On Nets podcast, host Marcus Barahal explains why this hiring didn’t come out of nowhere; rather, it's actually the exact hiring the Nets need.

Marcus Barahal: With the Steve Nash hiring, you could say ‘doesn’t it kind of come out of nowhere?’ And you could say ‘it doesn't make any sense.’

But as soon as you dig a little bit deeper, and the tweets started coming through as soon as this was announced, I think it actually does make sense. And if you kind of put up like a cork board and strung together like thumbtacks and string, this sort of was the answer all along.

Nash was a player development consultant with the Warriors the last few years. He worked really closely, specifically, with Kevin Durant. There was a great Zach Lowe article from 2018, breaking down Durant's sort of standing among the all-time great players. Nash was quoted a lot in that, and it sort of gave me the impression at least that he and Steve had a close bond, not only on the court, but off the court.

When KD announced that he was going to the Warriors from the Hamptons in July of 2016, Steve Nash was one of the guys that he called to talk to. There’s a quote in there from Nash, that KD said, which was, ‘it's not about championships, this is about challenging myself and learning new things.’ Nash said that answer for him was beyond reproach.

And I think that kind of describes the whole mindset of KD coming to the Nets in the first place. If it was just about titles, he would have stayed in Golden State with the Warriors where he arguably had a better chance to win another NBA championship or two or three. Coming to Brooklyn was a risk. It was a challenge for him. It’s still going to be a challenge.

Nash was also seen training with Kyrie Irving in the offseason, as well as Caris LeVert. He has relationships with each star player on the Nets roster, which should help moving ahead to a pressure-packed 2020-21 season.