Le’Bryan Nash talks about his NBA future, relationship with Byron Eaton and more

By Anthony Slater – Aslater@opubco.com - @anthonyVslater

For Tuesday’s paper, I wrote a longer piece, detailing the background of Oklahoma State forward Le’Bryan Nash. You can read it here.

But there was plenty I wasn’t able to fit in. Here’s the best of the rest, in notebook form:

Expanding on the Byron Eaton relationship

While much of Le’Bryan Nash’s background remained a mystery the past few years, many knew (at least mildly) of his family connection to former OSU guard Byron Eaton.

The two are half-brothers, from the father’s side. And while they didn’t live or grow up together, they’re from the same area and, through basketball, remained connected.

“We knew we were brothers, so every time we saw each other, we had that brother chemistry,” Nash said. “We’d play basketball together, then sit down and talk, stuff like that.”

Once in Stillwater, Byron even invited Le’Bryan up to a few games. Le’Bryan enjoyed his time and enjoyed the atmosphere, feeling an immediate connection with OSU. And word got back to Travis Ford.

“Byron was telling us, ‘This is where he always wanted to go to school, y’all better get on him, y’all better start recruiting him hard,’ ” Ford remembers. “So we picked it up a little bit and started to learn the background a little bit, how he’d been here a few times and always been an Oklahoma State fan.

“We came in and won with Byron, so that obviously helped. And then Byron spoke highly of us back to him, so that helped. But he loves it here. Loves it.”

Nash talks about his NBA future

On arrival, Le’Bryan Nash was viewed as a sure-fire one-and-done. That’s what he’d been told by those around him: fans, media, coaches and the like.

So there was no reason not to believe them.

“I thought I was going to come right in and average 20 points a game,” Nash admitted. “I’m not going to sit there and lie to you, tell you I wasn’t trying to go one-and-done. That’s any kid, any kid that has that opportunity, to see their name in the draft, they try to do that. I’m glad for where I’m at, I’m glad I’m in college. I could have been at the house right now, getting a regular job. So I’m happy to still be in college and having a winning season.”

Nash said he decided midway through his freshman season that he was going to come back.

“I wasn’t playing that good,” he said. “I knew we were getting Marcus Smart and Phil Forte, we gonna have a good team next year. I wasn’t worried about the NBA. I was worried about college the whole time.”