With the Podcast culture coming in, NBA fans are now privy to numerous anecdotes shared by current and retired players. Nate Robinson is the latest to share a story from his collection with the fans on the ‘The OGs’ podcast with co-host Udonis Haslem. The former NBA player, known for his ability to dunk despite his relatively shorter stature, talked about his former head coach – Doc Rivers, accusing him of robbing 1.5 million dollars of his money.
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Nate Robinson was invited as a guest in the podcast to talk about his time in the league and his struggles with health. During the show, the p former player narrated a story that led to him losing a substantial amount of money because of his head coach. Robinson was playing for the Boston Celtics during the 2010-11 season and was coached by Doc Rivers at the time. He had played 55 games in the season and as per his contract, one more game would give him a $1.5 million bonus. However, the head coach refused to put him on the floor for the rest of the season. Here is what Robinson said during the podcast:
“I still got a little beef with Doc. I don’t even wanna tell y’all the story because it’s gonna make y’all not even like that man anymore. I had in my contract that I would make like 2 million dollars if I played a certain amount of games. Doc Rivers gives me a DNP. The game where I needed one more game to get $1.5 million. The real **** in me wanted to just go sub in and just say **** just sub. Bro, I think he did that on purpose, bro. Why would he give me a DNP for? I am not hurt. I am ready to go.”
Judging by Nate Robinson’s side of the story, it feels like he was indeed done wrong. The panel further debated whether the coach would know such aspects of the players’ contracts. Robinson went on to further talk about how he needed that money as he was not on a super-max contract like the superstars in the league. He said:
“Look I didn’t get no contract like the rest of these guys, bro. I need to count every penny.”
According to ‘Spotrac‘, the player was on a one-year, $4.2 million contract with the Boston Celtics. Robinson averaged 9.3 points, 2.0 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game for his career which was not enough to get him a high-paying contract in the NBA. He was a role-player at best and, hence could have used the extra money his head coach robbed off him. And so, it really is hard to blame the player for harboring such strong feelings for Doc Rivers.
