During the 2000s, Richard Jefferson was a valuable member of the New Jersey Nets, serving as their mainstay starting small forward. During that time, he was also teammates with Kenyon Martin for a few years, including their runs to the 2002 and 20023 NBA Finals.
Martin was known as a wild personality by some, which endeared him to fans and his teammates. However, there were some times when he had some quarrels with opponents and even teammates in the locker room. Jefferson and Martin themselves had an altercation behind the scenes.
“Kenyon tells me, ‘Hey Richard, be quiet.’ Bonzi Wells goes, ‘Yeah! Listen to Kenyon and shut up.’ I just lost it. I’m like, ‘F, Bonzi! And F, you too, Kenyon!,” RJ said to Slam. “I go and sit down, I’m mad, pissed off. I’m sitting down, and Kenyon comes into the locker room pissed off. I stand up, and he pushes me down in my seat. We have a full-on fistfight.”
Despite the fight, they respected each other
Like most brotherhoods, there are some spats here and there. This was one of them as it made them better teammates. They had conflicts with each other, but they came out well afterwards.
“Even that fistfight right there, we both understood how much we wanted to win and that we were willing to fight anybody, including each other, to get that done,” Richard said.
In that fight, they were laying into each other but as soon as they hit Aaron Williams, the fight stopped. That was because Aaron was one of the toughest guys in the league, a physical player, which translates well into his massive presence. His physical style bled over to the court as he committed 319 fouls in the 2000/01 season, making him feared in the Nets locker room.
Their time together left much to be desired
RJ and Kenyon played three years together, and that was a wildly successful stretch for the New Jersey team. They made it to the NBA Finals twice but couldn’t win the big one as they played against the titanic Los Angeles Lakers and the giants of the San Antonio Spurs.
Despite being the underdogs, the Nets offered an entertaining spectacle as a team and earned respect as finalists. The skirmish between Jefferson and Martin highlighted their intense competitiveness, contributing to fruitful runs in the Eastern Conference. Although falling short, both RJ and Kenyon now share a compelling tale from their time together.
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