Steve Nash, new head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, was joined by one of his old teammates: Six-time All-Star forward Amar'e Stoudemire agreed to a one-year contract with the Nets to become an assistant coach under Nash, according to The Athletic on Friday.

The Nets surprised everyone when they decided to part ways with Kenny Atkinson in March. Six months later, the team made another astonishing decision by appointing Nash, who had no coaching experience, as their new head coach on a four-year deal.

After he took the job, Nash called Dirk Nowitzki, who had been teammates with him in the Dallas Mavericks between 1998 and 2004, to invite the German legend to join his coaching staff, but Nowitzki declined. This time, Nash managed to recruit Stoudemire, adding a familiar face to his group.

Nash and Stoudemire were teammates in the Phoenix Suns between 2005 and 2010. Before he met Nash, Stoudemire was already dropping 20.6 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, but he was not recognized as a first-class player, just like the Suns were not really a good team.

Nash's arrival changed everything. In the following six seasons, Stoudemire only missed one All-Star Weekend in 2006 because of injury. He scored 23.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in the five relatively healthy seasons of his in Phoenix and was named the All-NBA First Team once and the Second Team three times. By the way, Stoudemire only made the Second Team once after he left Phoenix.

In those six seasons, Nash and Stoudemire made one of Top 3 screen play pairs in NBA history. They went through Mike D'Antoni's Seven-Seconds-or-Less (SSOL) system, the awkward partnering with Shaquille O'Neal, and the last glory in 2010. The Suns' records were 62-20, 54-28, 61-21, 55-27, 46-36 and 54-28. They made the Western Conference Finals three times.

Nash and Stoudemire shall make good partners again in the coaching world, which should benefit the Nets in the new campaign. The past season gave the team mixed feelings. On the one hand, two of their most important signings, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, were held back by injuries and failed to help the team. However, the Nets caused quite a stir during season restart in Orlando with a franchise made up of almost role players only. When Durant and Irving return fully healthy, people may expect something higher than the Eastern Conference Finals from the Nets.