The NBA has never been short on heated exchanges. Whether it’s trash talk between rivals, postgame scuffles, or long-running beefs, emotions often boil over in the intensity of the moment. But sometimes, things get personal, and when they do, the fallout can get ugly. That’s exactly what happened between Kenyon Martin and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban during a playoff series in 2009.
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Martin is a bit of a hothead. He never backs down from any kind of confrontation. But he’s never intentionally looking for fights.
The bad blood began during the 2009 Western Conference Semifinals between Martin’s Denver Nuggets and Cuban’s Mavericks. The Nuggets had dominated the series early, taking a commanding 3-0 lead. But in Game 3, tensions escalated when Martin shoved Dirk Nowitzki after the whistle, a move that earned him a $25,000 fine from the league.
That alone would’ve been enough to fuel Martin’s fire. But what happened after the game pushed things to another level. According to Martin, Cuban approached his mother, who was in the stands, and said something that upset her deeply.
“He said something to the effect like, ‘Your son a thug too’ or something,” Martin recalled the interaction between his mom and Cuban on The OGs podcast. Clearly, he crossed the line. Cuban shouldn’t have involved his mother in it.
Martin didn’t find out until after the team had left the arena. And once he did, it stuck with him. So when Game 4 rolled around, Martin had something bigger than the game on his mind. He was fully prepared to fight Cuban, and despite the Mavs owner’s attempts to avoid him, he got really close. Fortunately, people intervened and things didn’t get out of control. But Cuban earned a bad reputation for life.
Kenyon Martin is always prepared to respond
Martin has a very simple philosophy on fights, and it’s one that he has followed all his life. On an episode of The Underground Lounge, he said, “I’m just from the hood, man. You hit me in my chest; I’m punching you in your jaw.”
“If we there, I’m going to put you in a situation to make you want to fight me because I want to see what you wanna do,” he added. The 2004 All-Star has a long list of people he has had issues with during his career. From Corey Maggette to Alonzo Mourning, K-Mart has had his fair share of on-court brawls.
“I said, ‘Let him go.’ I even told him, ‘I saw your fight with Larry Johnson.’ I wanted to see for myself,” he said during his scuffle with Mourning during practice. While he no longer gets into fights, Martin is always prepared to defend himself if it comes to that.
