Steve Nash listed as betting favorite to land 1 NBA head coaching job
Mar 31, 2018; San Antonio, TX, USA; Former basketball player Steve Nash speaks during the NBA Hall of Fame press conference at the Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Shanna Lockwood-USA TODAY Sports
Don’t shovel dirt on Steve Nash’s NBA head coaching career just yet.
Online sportsbook SportsBetting.ag released odds this week for the three remaining head coach openings in the NBA. The retired former All-Star point guard Nash was listed as the betting favorite for one of those jobs — the Toronto Raptors coaching vacancy.
Nash was given +300 odds to be hired as Toronto’s next head coach. JJ Redick (+400), Mike Budenholzer (+500), Sergio Scariolo (+600), and Monty Williams (+700) were the other candidates listed in the top five.
The 49-year-old Nash, a two-time NBA MVP and now a Basketball Hall of Famer, officially interviewed with the Raptors earlier this month. He is of Canadian descent and had previously coached elsewhere in the Atlantic Division with the Brooklyn Nets.
Nash’s stint in Brooklyn, his first as an NBA head coach, was rocky at best. While he was 94-67 (.584) overall, Nash won just one playoff series, clashed with the team’s star players, and was fired by the Nets early into his third season. That said, a Raptors team with lower expectations and fewer egos might be the ideal place for Nash to flip the script on his coaching career.
