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Nets' Kenyon Martin had beef with Tracy McGrady in their playing days
Nets' Kenyon Martin had beef with Tracy McGrady in their playing days
The Brooklyn Nets had some great players come through the franchise ever since the team was located in New Jersey and was led by Jason Kidd and Vince Carter. One of the players who made his mark in the NBA with the Nets, Kenyon Martin, ended up having beef with another NBA great in Tracy McGrady due to his physical Martin played during his younger days.
"Kenyon Martin. That's my dude, too. I love Kenny. I love the way he played. I wish I had played with that (expletive). But, he had a a tendency of hard-fouling, you know, tough guy (expletive)," McGrady said during his appearance on "The Young Man And The Three" podcast. McGrady was describing an altercation between himself and Martin while he was playing for the Orlando Magic.
"He fouled me one time in his phase of fouling people hard. I pump-faked one time, and he jumped up, and he came down on me, right on top of my head," McGrady said. "From that point on, bro, every time I seen Kenyon Martin, I just (dropped a) 46-piece, 40-piece."
The game in question, from which Martin was suspended for two games and fined $15,000 for the altercation with McGrady, happened on Jan. 5, 2002, a game in which the Magic won 109-96. McGrady drove to the basket and was fouled by Martin with 2:57 left in the game in a fashion that McGrady took exception to given that Martin struck his head with his elbow.
McGrady came away from the game with a $5,000 fine of his own after retaliating against Martin for the hard foul, but the Magic emerged from the game victorious thanks to McGrady putting up 35 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. While it seems like McGrady and Martin are on much better terms than they were during this moment in their playing careers, it also appears that McGrady knew who Martin was as a player and grew to respect him for it.
