"I wanted to be black" - Steve Nash tells LeBron James the secret behind his on-court swag

After JJ Redick left the podcasting landscape to accept the Lakers coaching job, LeBron James brought Suns legend Steve Nash as his new co-host on the "Mind the Game" podcast. The duo has already shot a couple of the episodes for the podcast's second season.

On Tuesday's episode, the duo talked about Nash and how the Phoenix Suns from his era revolutionized the NBA. Nash talked about his roots in basketball and told LeBron the story behind his love for the game.

He talked about the influence of black players on his perception of the game and how his on-court swag was driven by his desire to be black at one point in his life.

"I started playing basketball, fell in love with it, the first Air-Jordan 1, Spike Lee commercial, It was right when I was in the eighth grade," Nash said. "I was like, this world's amazing and then, let's also just be real, I wanted to be black, all the best players in the world were black." (30:22)

Nash was inspired by the game's greats to improve his dribbling skills and handles. James interrupted Nash to reveal that the Lakers squad talked the same about Austin Reaves and found it hard to believe that he learned his ball-handling skills while in Arkansas.

Steve Nash tells LeBron James the one thing he loves about today's game

The NBA has gone through a lot of different eras where basketball as a game has evolved countless times. Today's basketball in the NBA is quite different from how the game was played in the league 30 to 20 years ago and it is all because of the new players and new coaches bringing new skills and tactics to the game.

On Tuesday's episode, Steven Nash and LeBron James discussed modern-day basketball. Nash, at one point, revealed to James the one thing he loves about today's basketball.

"What I love about today's game is more people making plays," Nash said. (39:10)

Nash explained how simple playmaking skills in one-on-two situations or more scenarios can allow a play to be desired by many teams in the league. James chimed in on the conversation and said that players must make split-second decisions, as even a little bit of hesitation can disturb the rhythm of other players.