“Been Very Difficult for Me”: Steve Nash Opens Up on Coping with Kobe Bryant’s Death

Kobe Bryant played with a plethora of great NBA players during his career. One such player was current Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash. However, the two stars teamed up late in their careers and it was quite evident that they wouldn’t win any silverware together.

Although Kobe had five NBA Championships at the end of his career, Nash retired ringless. In the two seasons they played together, the duo didn’t even build a strong friendship. Yet a fellow comrade’s death can leave anyone in shock.

Nash recently revealed his thought process after Kobe passed away in a tragic helicopter accident.

“I was playing at tennis in L.A., and I felt … almost nothing, in that I just went cold and numb, and I don’t know if it was a defense mechanism, shock or … It took me a long time to really — and I still think I’m coming to grips with it’s actually true.

“It doesn’t feel real. Having competed my whole career against him, playing with him for a year basically, I hadn’t seen him probably since 2016, and so, you always feel like he’s there and we’ll cross paths one day again. It’s been very difficult for me to come to grips with it.”

As Nash revealed, most people still can’t believe that Kobe is no longer in this world. But his impact on the game of basketball will forever be remembered. He played an amazing style of basketball and worked harder than anybody else on the court.

A look back at Steve Nash’s stint with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers

When Nash joined the Lakers in 2012, most assumed the duo would work out perfectly. In fact, they had another superstar in Dwight Howard to make it a superteam. But the trio never worked out, and they never gelled together.

One of the biggest reasons for that is the poor chemistry between Kobe and Howard. Couple that with aging Nash, and that partnership was doomed to fail. After the departure of Howard, the Kobe-Nash duo played another season together and failed to even make it to the playoffs.

This started a six-year-long playoff drought for the purple and gold, which recently ended in the 2019-20 season, when they became champions again.

As for Nash, he has taken command of the Nets as head coach in hopes of winning an NBA Championship.