http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5051607 On a night when the Denver Nuggets should have been celebrating a much-needed victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, the franchise continued to struggle with off-the-court issues when an April Fools' Day joke sparked anything but laughter. During Denver's 109-92 victory Thursday, a former Nuggets ball boy, Laquan Johnson, got into the club's locker room, took Kenyon Martin's car keys and filled the player's Range Rover with buttered popcorn. The car had a white interior. Martin Martin discovered the damage as he was about to exit Denver's Pepsi Center. At the time, he had no idea who had pulled the prank. Angered, he went back to the locker room spewing profanities and threats at teammates and other members of the organization. "That ain't no [expletive] joke," Martin said. "I'm going to find out who did it ... put my [expletive] hands on one of y'all. I'm going to put my hands on whoever did it. You better believe that. It's [expletive] personal. You better believe it." Martin, who has missed 15 games with a torn patella tendon in his left knee, threatened to boycott the postseason if he did not find out who was responsible. "How 'bout if I don't play in the playoffs until somebody tells me who did it," Martin said more than once. Martin stormed in and out of the locker room several times, and a person close to him said his anger was not over the prank, but over the fact that someone could go into his pocket and take his keys during a game. Realizing the culprit had to have access to the private code for the team's gated parking lot, he assumed members of the organization either pulled the stunt or assisted in it. "The fact that no one saw it or had anything to say about it -- not security, not the equipment manager," a person close to Martin said, explaining the player's anger. "Somebody had to see it. He was wondering how the organization let something like that happen. What if the kid had really wanted to do something evil?" Later, Martin found out Johnson, the former ball boy who is now the driver for teammate J.R. Smith, was responsible. Johnson apologized to Martin and agreed to pay for the damage to his car. "It was just an April Fools joke that went horribly wrong," said a member of the Nuggets organization who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "The kid thought it would be funny and it wasn't. Kenyon was back at practice today and everything was fine between him and his teammates." The episode was the latest in a string of distractions Denver has had to deal with lately. Once regarded as the Western Conference's top challenger to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Nuggets have all but fallen apart down the stretch. With Martin out and coach George Karl missing games while getting treatment for throat cancer, Denver had lost five of six games before defeating Portland. That stretch dropped them from the second seed to the fifth seed in the West. Martin, who cannot guarantee he'll be healthy for the playoffs, said before Thursday's game that he hopes to return for the last regular season game or two. Chris Broussard cover the NBA for ESPN The Magazine.
I would flip too if I was him, do you know how dirty the car gets with all those freaking popcorn. If it was candies or women on the other hand I can deal with that.
Dude's making $15M this year, I'm sure he can afford a few hundred bucks to clean his damn car. God, I hate the Thuggets. I hate them so much.
I wouldn't flip out like a knucklehead, but buttered popcorn was not a smart move by that guy. Also, there is no way that ballboy/ driver just decided to do that on his own -- some players on the team told him to do it. A proper reaction... <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rv58sCIEhRQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rv58sCIEhRQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Already posted...last night. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=5223034&postcount=93 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=176162&page=5
That's not the point, if a guy was to do that to YOUR car would you laugh it off? When you guys hate on a player you guys get tunnel vision and don't even think about the situation before hating.
It's ok to get mad, but he said he would sit out the playoffs also. When does winning a championship is come at the expense of finding out who stole his keys?
When people are angry they'll say anything, yes he's butthurt but I'm sure he wouldn't actually sit out of the playoffs. He's injured anyway.
I think it's more than the fact the his car has been filled with popcorns but more with the fact like he said, that someone checked up in his personal things to get his keys.
You guys are forgetting that he said it was because someone went through his personal belongings in order to get the keys to the car. I'd be mad too... who knows what could happen if a ex-ballboy can get in the locker room and steal ****. I'd be pissed to. You idiots who say he can't take a joke are looking at it the wrong way.
I can see if it was regular popcorn but this was buttery popcorn. And to say he shouldn't be mad just because he has money is ridiculous. Plus he said he was mad because someone went through his stuff. But of course since this is Kenyon Martin people will just call him a thug and say other things that has nothing to do with this situation.
Yeah, K-Mart might be a whiney b**** but kid needs to use some sense next time and not use buttered popcorn lol
LMAO yeah they just scored some browny points with Stern. Stern needs "bad guys" in the league for good people like us to hate. I hate Kenyon Martin. Boycott the post season? Yeah then never get longer than a one year deal again. He just made a complete ass of himself. Getting mad and screaming a few profanities is one thing. To threaten your team that you will "give up" on them over at most a thousand dollars is selfish and shows you how entitled these athletes are. CRY CRY CRY. WHEN most of us will never make what he makes in a year, in our whole lives. Someone make this guy a sign for next year. Kenyon crying with popcorn spewing out of his car.
In this corrupt world where money makes all the difference, people lose sight of what really matters in integrity. In this case, it was the principle of the matter. Someone had violated KMart's privacy and security, by rummaging through his PERSONAL possessions, accessed the team parking lot which only team members and those associated have access to, and messed up his expensive car's interior. Money has nothing to do with this, just makes it easier to clean up the mess. Doesn't excuse the fact that someone broke into his car after causing a huge breach/invasion in privacy and security. Anyone in the right mind would be pissed.
Hey Olem, this is SteveBartmanMVP. I agree on money playing a part in it. Seriously, fans work their tails off to pay for Kenyon Martins salary and he can't take a joke that would at most cost him a thousand dollars. When the guy is making the minimum and people are just downing him because they are douches, then I would understand Martin losing his lunch over it. He's vastly overpaid in a screwed financial market, so he can stop threatening he will stop playing.
