Nash’s instant opportunity was labeled a product of “white privilege” by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, noting that more experienced Black coaches were bypassed like Tyronn Lue, Sam Cassell and Mark Jackson. “I don’t think that’s fair to anybody involved. I don’t think it’s fair to Steve, obviously,” Colangelo said. “He didn’t create [the disproportionate number of Black coaches in the NBA]. He was offered an opportunity, and he’s a big boy, he understood what saying ‘Yes’ might cause or create certain kinds of speculation. But he was willing to do that. Certainly the same with [Nets GM Sean Marks], he knew in hiring Steve he knew he was potentially opening himself up. But he chose to do it. And so you have to honor that. We’re just living in a very precarious time and every decision is looked at with a microscope and race is brought into it. Sometimes it’s justified, sometimes it’s not.”