The agent for suspended Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin said Friday the team hasn’t been totally forthcoming about the severity of his client’s knee injury, and while he was deserving of his punishment, it’s time for Martin to be playing again.
“The point is there is definitely two sides to the story,” Brian Dyke said. “I don’t think an indefinite suspension is fair, and what Kenyon has been going through with his knee hasn’t been fully talked about by the Nuggets.
Martin was suspended last Tuesday for conduct detrimental to the team. Dyke said the suspension is expected to last through the Nuggets’ first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The 2004 all-star was suspended after his tirade at halftime of the Nuggets’ Game 2 road loss, in which Martin said he told coach George Karl he didn’t want to play in the second half. Although Martin apologized in a statement Wednesday, his return is in limbo.
Karl, who did not return phone calls, has given no indication as to when Martin will play again. While he didn’t give a date, Dyke said a grievance will be filed with the National Basketball Players Association on Martin’s behalf.
“I like Coach, but I don’t agree with him,” said Dyke, who spoke to Karl before the suspension was announced. “He had to suspend him, but I don’t agree with the whole first round.
“There is no excusing what he did. He was punished. But an indefinite suspension is nothing we talked about and I don’t agree with it.”
Martin had microfracture surgery on his left knee during the offseason. Dyke said the Nuggets’ medical staff told Martin in September that he was 100 percent.
But Martin has been plagued by knee problems all season. The five-year NBA veteran missed a career-high 25 games to injury this season, including 16 because of tendinitis in his left knee and six to a left knee bruise, according to the Nuggets. Dyke said Martin missed those games because of complications from surgery.
“They told Kenyon he was completely healed,” Dyke said. “That wasn’t the case.”
Dyke said Martin received a second opinion on his left knee from an unnamed doctor in Los Angeles last November. Dyke said the doctor’s recommendation was that Martin should sit out 30 to 45 days, take anti-inflammatories and receive a series of shots for the pain. Martin was out four games from Nov. 16-22 with what the Nuggets listed as tendinitis in his left knee.
But instead of taking a long break, Martin played the next seven games hurt. Dyke said he told Karl about Martin’s medical history from this season in February, and that the coach was unaware of its seriousness.
Dyke said Martin received a third opinion from an unnamed doctor in Denver in March. Dyke said the doctor’s recommendation was that Martin receive a series of shots for the pain. Dyke also said Martin had a series of three shots in April and needed two days rest per shot to prepare for the playoffs. He missed four games in April with what the Nuggets called tendinitis in his left knee.
“We have a lot of confidence in our training staff and medical staff,” Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said. “We always encourage the players to get second opinions.”
Karl has said Martin rarely practiced this season, but Dyke said it was in order to rest his knee. Dyke said Martin also received shots last season for the pain, and the aftereffects left him bloated and sick at times.
“Kenyon took a series of shots to play in the playoffs,” Dyke said. “A series of shots to lubricate the knee.”
Despite the pain, Dyke said Martin wants to play this season and is projected to be fully healed in the offseason.
“During the course of the summer he will be 100 percent,” Dyke said. “It’s not a question of whether he will get better.”
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
