A cult tradition in the NBA, the hazing of rookies is one of the inevitable initiation rituals for newcomers to the league. However, a former All-Star for his part dared to stand up to the veterans of his team, and ended up winning his case!
In 2013, after a scandal involving the Miami Dolphins NFL franchise, the NBA published a press release to fight against this ancestral practice in its ranks. Almost ten years later, the effects of this initiative are still not being felt, and for good reason. Hazing remains an essential step in the career of league players, who are subject to the law of their elders as rookies.
Most of the time, their tasks consist simply of bringing food to each practice, carrying the bags of their teammates, or trying out a crazy accessory before each meeting. However, sometimes this phenomenon can take a more extreme turn, in particular when it’s Shaquille O’Neal who imagines the punishment. A few special cases nevertheless stand out in history.
How Kenyon Martin escaped Nets hazing
In the latest episode of the podcast All The Smoke, Stephen Jackson received his former teammate Kenyon Martin. The opportunity was therefore perfect for the two men, both drafted by Brooklyn in 2000, to tell anecdotes of the time. The former All-Star, for example, claimed to have managed to escape the bullying of the old veterans of the workforce, thanks to his strong temperament:
I just had the right mentality, man. Like, nobody’s gonna make me do anything. I wasn’t 18 or 19 when I got drafted. I was 22 years old. I was strong as an ox. I was only 3% body fat. I wasn’t going to do anything, no one was going to force me into anything. If I want to buy donuts, I do it on my own initiative. If I want to help carry the bags, I do it out of pure fucking kindness.
By daring to stand up to the Nets veterans in this way, Martin not only escaped the usual humiliation reserved for rookies, but also allowed others, including Jackson, not to suffer it! It must be said that K-Mart was one of those hotheads that it was better not to heat up, even as a joke. The biggest stars of the time were able to verify it on the ground, like Dikembe Mutombo:
Midway through the 3rd quarter of game #3, Kenyon Martin was hit on the face by former teammate Dikembe Mutombo’s elbow as they fought for position for a rebound underneath. K-Mart would respond on the other end by hacking & shoving Deke, which earned him a technical foul. pic.twitter.com/MfpSgY78V0
— thegrandkenyon (@thegrandkenyon6) October 19, 2018
Arriving in the league as the 1st pick after 4 years in college, Kenyon Martin had no intention of being walked over by his older partners at the Nets. The latter immediately understood who they were dealing with!
