Nate Robinson has publicly resented Mike D'Antoni for years, with the two notably having a tumultuous player-coach relationship during their time together from 2008-10 with the New York Knicks.
Robinson later trashed D'Antoni. In a 2016 interview with Bleacher Report, Robinson said: "Mike D'Antoni was a cool coach, but he was just a bad person. He can coach. He was just mean for no reason. He had no reason to be a certain way toward players he liked and didn't like. As a man, you would talk to somebody if you had a problem with them. You would tell them. He never told me exactly what his problem was with me. I didn't know how to change it. I'd talk to him every day, but he would ignore me. It was crazy."
D'Antoni yanked Robinson from the Knicks' rotation for 14 games in Dec. 2009. The 5-foot-9 guard returned in January, scoring 41 points in his first game back. The next month, he won his third consecutive Slam Dunk Contest. Five days later, the Knicks dealt Robinson to the Boston Celtics.
Robinson was a member of the media this past weekend at the All-Star festivities. He joined former teammate Carlos Boozer, his soon-to-be co-host on the new Sports Illustrated podcast HOLDAT, which debuts Wednesday.
While they made the rounds, Robinson and Boozer stopped by D'Antoni's booth, and Robinson confronted his former coach. He asked D'Antoni why he was benched for a whole month.
It turned into a nice, genuine moment, with D'Antoni, now the Rockets coach, complimenting Robinson's talent and saying he regretted never getting the most out of the former guard.
Nate Robinson and Mike D’Antoni clear the air after their old Knicks feud. #HOLDAT pic.twitter.com/NC8Mmmh8cm
D'Antoni coached Team Steph in the All-Star Game. Team LeBron pulled out a 148-145 win in a game that was surprisingly competitive.
