Mike D'Antoni regrets not remaining with the Phoenix Suns when he decided to become the head coach of the New York Knicks.

"I shouldn't have gone to New York," said D'Antoni.

"I should have stuck in there and battled. You don't get to coach somebody like him [Nash] too many times. It's pretty sacred and you need to take care of it. I didn't."

The parting with the Suns had always been reported as mutual.

"No. It was me," D'Antoni admits now. "I initiated it and I probably shouldn't have."

The Knicks' had a plan to rebuild while pursuing cap space.

"We had a three-year plan and it was good," D'Antoni says. "There were good aspects of it. But it was better the other way [in Phoenix]."

D'Antoni became head coach of the Lakers after the team fired Mike Brown.