Kenyon Martin Kenyon Lee Martin nicknamed K-Mart (born December 30, 1977 in Saginaw, Michigan) is a professional basketball player for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, playing at power forward. He is noted for his excellent defensive and rebounding skills, as well as his intensity and aggressive dunking. Martin was an outstanding player in college, playing for the Cincinnati Bearcats under the direction of Bob Huggins. As a senior, he averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game and was the consensus National Player of the Year, earning numerous awards from various organizations, but suffered a broken leg in the Conference USA Tournament, keeping him out of the NCAA Tournament that year. Cincinnati retired his #4 jersey on April 25, 2000. Later that year, he was selected first overall in the 2000 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. Martin is the last American-born college senior to have been the top overall pick; the five top picks since him consist of three high school players (Kwame Brown, LeBron James, Dwight Howard), one international player with two years of U.S. college experience (Andrew Bogut), and one international player with no American college experience (Yao Ming).
As a rookie, Martin moved from center to power forward and averaged 12 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. In his second season, Martin averaged 14.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.7 blocks per game in helping the Nets rise from last place in the Atlantic Division to an Eastern Conference title and the best season to date in the Nets' NBA history. Along with Nets stars Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, Martin led the Nets to the 2002 NBA Finals, where they were swept by the Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal-led Los Angeles Lakers. In his third season Martin again helped his team into the NBA Finals, where the Nets lost in six games against the Tim Duncan-led San Antonio Spurs. The next year, Martin averaged 16.7 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks en route to his first NBA All-Star selection, as a backup forward for the Eastern Conference All-Stars. In the 2004 NBA All-Star Game, Martin scored 17 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and had 3 assists.
At the end of the 2003-04 season, Martin was traded to the Nuggets for three future 1st round draft picks in a sign-and-trade deal. His time in Denver has been dissapointing which in large part is due to his offseason arthroscopic knee surgery. Many around the league wonder if he will ever be the same player he used to be and many critics say he is just another product of Jason Kidd. Trade rumors have plagued Martin this season as he is rumored to be feuding with his coach George Karl.
As of April 27th, 2006, Kenyon Martin was suspended from the Denver Nuggets indefinitely for "conduct detrimental to the team". During half-time of game two in the Los Angeles Clippers / Denver Nuggets playoff series, Martin got into an argument with coach George Karl over his playing time, and proceeded to refuse to play for the second half of the game.
Martin is married to Heather Martin and has three children, sons Kenyon, Jr. and Kameron, and daughter Cierra Reign. In his free time he enjoys watching movies and playing video games. Martin's half brother, Richard Roby, is a sophomore guard for the University of Colorado.
