The NBA has moved towards player protection in recent years, and fouls get called more often these days than they did in the '90s and early 2000s. Former NBA stars have expressed their concerns over the league and its players going 'soft'. Kenyon Martin is the latest retired athlete to question the fortitude of the modern generation of NBA stars by revealing an incident with Boston Celtics legend Kevin Garnett.
Kenyon Martin recalls an amusing moment with NBA legend Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett was one of the best players in the league in his prime, as the power forward broke and rewrote various NBA records. A two-way star, it was natural for Minnesota Timberwolves and Boston Celtics fans to see him put up mind-boggling numbers every night.
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The dominant big eventually won a ring with a Boston Celtics in 2008, defeating the LA Lakers, which cemented his legacy as an all-time great.
Garnett was known for his tough demeanor on the court, however, former Brooklyn Nets power forward Kenyon Martin has come out and contested those claims. In a recent article, he recalled his trash talk with the Boston Celtics man,
“You’re a porch puppy. All you do is bark. You better take your a-- back to your huddle before I get mad.”
Kenyon Martin further claimed that his teammate, Dahntay Jones, witnessed the conversation. Martin went on to say that he was someone who wouldn't pick up fights on his own but would certainly finish them another player was responsible for starting an incident.
Martin also expressed his concerns over how the NBA has become too cautious when it comes to player safety. He claimed the new rules have taken the sting out of the games of physical players. The league has seen the emergence of European players operating as stretch 4s and 5s, which has been aided by the NBA becoming less physical over the last decade.
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