Nash grew up playing several different sports, and after a successful high school basketball career in British Columbia, he earned a scholarship to Santa Clara University in California.

From 2012 to 2019, he served as general manager of the Canadian men's national basketball team, for whom he played from 1991 to 2003, making one Olympic appearance and being twice named FIBA AmeriCup MVP.

He had spent the previous summer honing his skills, playing with the Canadian national team and working out with established NBA players Jason Kidd and Gary Payton.

[17] With Nash directing the team's offense, Nowitzki and Finley playing at their best, and the acquisition of All-Star Juwan Howard complementing the high-scoring trio, the Mavericks earned a playoff berth for the first time in more than a decade.

Dallas lost in the Western Conference Semifinals four games to one to the San Antonio Spurs, but it marked the beginning of a memorable run for Nash and the Mavericks.

[21][25] Nowitzki and Nash led the Mavericks from a 14-game winning streak to open the season all the way to the Western Conference finals, where they lost to the eventual NBA champions, the San Antonio Spurs four games to two.

Head coach Mike D'Antoni favoured an up-tempo style of basketball; this required smaller and more athletic players with the capability to outrun and outshoot their opponents.

[34] The Suns were not expected to repeat their successful 2005 season, but with Nash directing the same high-tempo offence, the team compiled a respectable 54–28 record and won the division title.

Despite a mid-season trade that sent Shawn Marion to the Miami Heat and brought four-time NBA champion Shaquille O'Neal to the team, the Suns were defeated in the first round of the 2008 playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs for the third time in four years.

The Suns had difficulties adapting to this new system, and even a December trade involving sending stalwarts Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to the Charlotte Bobcats for athletic swingman Jason Richardson[45] saw the team continue to struggle.

[56] In the second game of the 2012–13 season, Nash suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left leg after a collision with Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers.

[60] On 22 December, Nash returned against the Golden State Warriors, helping the Lakers win their first overtime game of the season, 118–115, scoring 12 points with 9 assists in 41 minutes of play.

He was suffering from a recurrence of nerve problems stemming from an earlier collision to his left leg with Chicago's Kirk Hinrich, and the Lakers wanted to give Kendall Marshall and Jordan Farmar more playing time.

[82] On 31 March 2018, during the Final Four, it was announced that Nash – along with former teammates Jason Kidd and Grant Hill, as well as Ray Allen, Maurice Cheeks, and Charlie Scott – would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.

Nash's Olympic performance propelled him to stardom in Canada, and he finished fifth in voting for the 2000 Lionel Conacher Award, which is handed out to the Canadian male athlete of the year.

[113] In the 2005–06 season, Nash became the fourth player in NBA history to shoot 50% or better from the field, 40% from three-point range (43.9), and 90% from the line, joining Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, and Mark Price in the 50–40–90 club.

[13] Only 12 other NBA players have won back-to-back MVP awards: Johnson, Jordan, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokić.

[118] Commenting on Nash losing out to former teammate Dirk Nowitzki for the 2007 NBA MVP, Boston Celtics centre and Hall of Famer Russell stated: "I think, on the world stage, he's one of our great athletes in all sports ...

"[119] Nash was particularly effective playing the pick and roll, especially with Nowitzki when he was with the Mavericks and later with the Suns' Amar'e Stoudemire and Shawn Marion under head coach Mike D'Antoni.

[120] When Nash returned to Phoenix in 2004, he helped the Suns improve from a 29–53 record in 2003–04 to 62–20 in 2004–05, reaching the conference finals for the first time in 11 years, and earning his first MVP award.

[152] Nash also founded the Jim Jennings Memorial Endowment Fund, established in honour of a volunteer staff member at Santa Clara University who served the basketball team for more than 20 years.

In September 2007, Nash and Yao Ming headlined a group of NBA players who travelled to China and played an exhibition game with the Chinese national basketball team.

In the accompanying write-up by Charles Barkley, Nash was lauded for his unselfishness on the basketball court, and being "just a nice guy" who had paid for a new pediatric cardiology ward in a Paraguayan hospital.

[156] On 18 September 2009, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Victoria for his athletic achievements and philanthropic work on the behalf of young people through the Steve Nash Foundation.

Nash is friends with several professional soccer players, including Alessandro Del Piero, Thierry Henry, Owen Hargreaves, Massimo Ambrosini and Steve McManaman.

[166] Nash is also a fan of Spain's Barcelona,[78] and Brazilian team Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, which his former Suns teammate Leandro Barbosa supports.

[168] In July 2013, Nash participated in a training session with the Italian soccer club Inter Milan at the New York Red Bulls' facilities in New Jersey.

[172] In 2007, Nash wrote and produced an 81-second commercial for Nike titled "Training Day", directed by Julian Schnabel's daughter Lola, which gained popularity as a viral video on YouTube.

It is a spoof remake of the title sequence of the American television series The Six Million Dollar Man and plays on Nash's numerous on-court collisions.

"[182] Nash has also been critical of Arizona's SB1070, legislation which seeks to aggressively address illegal immigration, as he felt "the law obviously can target opportunities for racial profiling.