INQUIRER Sports

NEW YORK ? New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson was fined $25,000 by the NBA on Monday after his agent went public with a trade request for the benched player.

Robinson hasn't played in the Knicks' last 12 games and has played in just a dozen games all season.

Agent Aaron Goodwin recently told reporters he'd asked the Knicks to move Robinson to another team. Robinson was fined for statements detrimental to the NBA.

"Players are not permitted to make trade requests publicly and are responsible for public statements relating to them made by their representatives," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.

Goodwin claimed the benching was personal, not basketball related. A day after Goodwin's comments on December 19, Knicks president Donnie Walsh said he would probably begin talks with the agent about a trade.

Robinson, a two-time winner of the All-Star slam-dunk contest, averaged a career-high 17.2 points last season as the Knicks' sixth man.