Tim Thomas and Kenyon Martin. Photo Credit: DJ Whoo Kid/Twitter
Retired NBA player Kenyon Martin chatted with RESPECT Magazine’s Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on the Scoop B Radio podcast about his feud with Tim Thomas and a range of other topics. Click the player below to listen.
Kenyon Martin and Tim Thomas have had a long-standing feud that dates back to April 17, 2004. NBA Playoffs, first seeded New Jersey Nets vs. eight seeded New York Knicks.
With the Nets leading 94-74 midway through the 4th quarter of game 1 of the Hudson River matchup, Thomas, then a Knick, took Martin, then a Net off the dribble from the left side. Martin lost Thomas on defense as Thomas glided to the basket. Jason Collins, then a Net went to bail Martin on defense and attempted to block Thomas’ shot and instead knocked Thomas to the ground. Collins was charged with a flagrant foul. The hit not only required a stretcher for Thomas to get off the court, but Thomas was ruled out for the remainder of the series.
After being released from the hospital, Thomas expressed his frustration to the New York media, telling reporters that he would be looking to hit someone back when he returned to the court. When pressed by a writer on his stance on Kenyon Martin, Thomas stated that Martin was a “fugazi,” a mafia term which means ‘fake,’ and was popularized by former HBO original program The Sopranos, a hit during that time period.
“I said what I thought that individual, Kenyon Martin is, which is a fake tough guy,” Thomas told me last year on Scoop B Radio.
“It kind of stuck. I’m from Paterson NJ, 10th Ave. and E. 29th. My city is called Pakistan right now. They call him Ken in his hometown, where he’s from. They call me Big Dog and Big Homie or OG where I’m from. So it’s a major difference right there.”
Martin would retaliate by cutting out the New York Post’s headline that read “Whiny Tim” and taped it to his practice jersey for all the media to see. The Nets swept the Knicks in that series, 4-0 and would lose in the Eastern Conference Finals to eventual 2004 NBA Champion Detroit Pistons.
The feud would escalate.
Martin would appear on a podcast with NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, a former Nets beat writer for the Bergen Record (NJ) newspaper. Martin discussed his time playing with the Nets and when asked by Woj about the topic of Thomas, Martin weighed in.
Apparently, after the playoff series between the two teams, the two got into an altercation at a Dallas-area night club.
According to Martin, the party’s hostess asked Thomas to leave and informed him that she didn’t want “any of Thomas’ blood on her hands.” To which Martin told The Vertical Podcast: “Ain’t no one going to let something happen to me in my area code and I don’t think he knew that, so it could have got ugly. He found out that night to leave me alone.”
When pressed on a way to resolve the issue, Thomas stated that he’d like to step into the ring and box Kenyon Martin for a charity of his choice.
“Brother let’s get in the ring,” Tim Thomas told me on Scoop B Radio. “Let’s get in the ring! I know you got some charities you can send the money to. I’ve got plenty of kids to help out, plenty of organizations. We could give it to charity. Or we can get some boxing promoters. I can call Floyd and we can get this off my chest once and for all.”
Earlier this year, 50 Cent announced that he and boxer Floyd Mayweather were setting up a boxing match with singer Chris Brown and rapper Soulja Boy as its headliners. 50 also indicated that retired NBA player Kenyon Martin, who played for the Nets, and Thomas, were on the event’s undercard.
Well, Floyd had a big fight last month, he fought some guy Irish MMA fighter named Conor McGregor! Maybe you’ve heard of him?
No sign of Thomas or Martin, though!
When asked about 50 Cent’s challenge, Martin told Billboard Magazine:
“Don’t be part of the circus, dog. You know what they say if you entertain clowns, right? If you entertain clowns, you become part of the circus. I’m a 39-year-old grown-ass man, dog. If that was going to happen, I would have took care of it seven years ago. I moved on. I got kids at home. I don’t got time for that. It’s childish. It’s just people reaching for something to talk about. I’m not gonna entertain that.”
Martin’s been pretty mum about it. Until now.
Appearing on today’s episode of Scoop B Radio, the NBA veteran and newly minted champion of Ice Cube’s Big 3 league had a lot to say about Thomas and that whole feud. “I would have whooped his ass is what I would have done,” Kenyon Martin told me on Scoop B Radio.
“And it would have been f***ing over is what I’m saying. It’s all it is and it wouldn’t have to go on as long. I would have taken care of it or I should have let someone else take care of it like they wanted to.”
Added Martin:
“The truth of the matter is, the man went at me for no reason. That is all that matters. I had nothing to do with the situation. I had nothing to do with the situation. The man got baited in like a dummy. He let the media bait him in and he fell for the bait like that is all it is. There is nothing more to it. There is no three sides to the story or nothing. The truth is he got baited in and went for the bait. Know what I am saying? They asked him a question and I had nothing to do with the situation. Jason Collins fouled him, I did not. They asked that man and he said when I come back I’m going to hit somebody. But they got Kenyon over there, that is where the question is at. I had nothing to do with the situation.”
Tim Thomas and Kenyon Martin. Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated
Martin says he wants to move on past their feud: “Listen man, I am a man first. F*** all the basketball s***, all the celebrity s***, all that bull****. No, I am not. I don’t play those kinds of games, bruh.”
He also weighed in on their altercation in the Dallas-area night club. “Listen man, the only reason he here right now and his homeboys are here right now is because I called the dogs off him in Dallas, man,” said Martin. “Ain’t no if ands or buts about it. Ask him if he did go to the club in Dallas and ask him if the lady asked him to leave. All that needs to be said. Hear what I’m saying?”
Added K-Mart:
“Club Blue in Dallas. Trust me bruh, he only here and his n****s are only walking around right now in one piece because I didn’t allow people to do something to them. Because I am smarter than them. I am not with all.”
The two men made a truce at a Los Angeles-area grocery store, even taking a picture together.
Tim Thomas vs Kenyon Martin @Shade45 ?????? @SIRIUSXM ? pic.twitter.com/SvRjtRjRY5
— DJ Whoo Kid (@DJWhooKid) May 21, 2016
“My son took the picture with his phone at the grocery store, dawg,” Martin told Scoop B Radio. “You know what I am saying? I’m in flip flops. We are in the grocery store shopping for barbeque. I got on flip flops. He had to take the picture. It didn’t come from my phone. So if I’m such a hoe and I’m such a fan why do you want to take pictures with me and s**t?”
Closure needs to be a thing at this point. My NBA childhood is at stake! Martin is a versatile big that could bang with the big guys and even defend the guards. I hope that NBA teams were taking notes during his Big 3 play.
Tim Thomas, for the record is one of the most talented tall do-it-all players with handle and a deadly three point shot when it is hot!
At his skill-set, he Al Harrington and Andray Blatche are my guilty pleasures to watch on Youtube.
But I digress!
Mr. Martin, in the words of ESPN’s Mark Jackson, may we have this last dance? “It’s old for me unless he tries something or says something slick,” Kenyon Martin told Scoop B Radio.
“I am done with it. I got other things in my life that I need to worry about other than that clown. Everybody know the way I feel about him and it ain’t a secret. He knows the way I feel about him. It is what it is at this point, man.”
Case closed!
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1 Comment
They are both gay and the author of this article is even gayer.