Kyrie Irving on Steve Nash Hire: 'I Don't Really See' Nets Having a Head Coach

Steve Nash was hired as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets on Sept. 3, but Kyrie Irving has said he doesn't see Nash—or anyone—in that role.

"I don't really see us having a head coach," Irving said when appearing on Kevin Durant's new podcast The ETCs. "You know what I mean? KD could be a head coach. I could be a head coach." 

Durant added that assistant head coach Jacque Vaughn could also appear in the role.

"It's a collaborative effort," he said.

Nash said he was excited to work with Irving, whom he met when Irving was a rookie with the Cleveland Cavaliers, in an appearance on JJ Redick's The Old Man and the Three podcast (h/t USA Today's Cody Taylor) last week, calling the guard "a savant with basketball."  

But when Durant's co-host Eddie Rodriguez asked Irving about their relationship, Irving said he only really knows Nash "from afar": 

"Steve is great, and I have a relationship with him that's going to build over time, bro. Steve don't know me from anything he heard or he's heard someone else. We've worked out one time in 2014, but it's grown as just a respectful relationship from afar. I saw him at the Hall of Fame two years ago, gave him a big hug and now he's the head coach. And I think it's also going to change the way we see coaches."

Durant, who will return from his Achilles injury next season, has been outspoken about his support for Nash's hiring. The pair got to know each other when Nash worked as a part-time consultant for the Golden State Warriors. 

"His insight for the game, his communication, how he communicates the game of basketball is definitely going to help me as a player develop and it's going to help the rest of the team," Durant said on Redick's podcast (h/t ESPN's Andrew Lopez).