Kenyon Martin, it won’t surprise you to learn, is no fan of the chummy nature of today’s NBA.
K-Mart writes in The Players’ Tribune that guys aren’t going hard enough, and don’t hate losing the way players supposedly did back in his day:
I don’t think losing bothers guys in the NBA now.
Everyone’s hugging out there. When we were playing, we were trying to take people’s heads off. We were out there battling every night. Nowadays, I’m surprised I haven’t seen someone dap up an opponent for making a free throw.
I’m a sore loser. I was there to win.
Martin has great respect for Kobe Bryant’s take-no-prisoners approach to the game.
“Mamba would literally take your head off to win the game, man. He’d f*** you up.” https://t.co/BlxSNf3yir
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) April 6, 2017
Per The Players’ Tribune:
People can say whatever they want about Kobe, but Kobe don’t take no shit from nobody. Kobe would fight you in a minute. He would. That’s something I think a lot of fans didn’t know. People think of Kobe for all that skillful basketball stuff, but not for the fact that, if you stepped up to him, he’d fight back. Or if you clubbed him or hit him, he’d make you pay.
That’s ’cause Mamba would literally take your head off to win the game, man. He’d fuck you up. There’s a lot of trash talking on the court, but nobody ever said shit to Kobe.
