No. 10: Kevin Martin (2015-16)
For players without All-Star appearances and championships, the “fight” for our memories is probably the next closest honor. Fair or unfair, Kevin Martin’s career has arguably become a footnote; he was a part of one of the more seismic, culture-shifting trades in basketball history.
That being the case, it’s easy to forget how lethal a scorer he was during his prime. From 2006-07 to 2014-15, only six players produced more 20-point seasons. From a win-loss standpoint, those numbers were fruitless, but it gives way to wondering how differently his career arc weaves in a winning culture.
In 2015-16, that chance — the last of Martin’s 12-year career — came, in the form of the San Antonio Spurs. Toiling away on a 19-41 Minnesota team, the awkward-shooting, lanky two-guard got a contract buyout that allowed him to join a largely-forgotten Spurs team that was 52-9, and salivating for a championship.
The marriage, on paper at least, appeared to make sense. We often hear athletes say they’d “give their left nut” for a championship; Manu Ginobili did, literally. Testicular surgery left him out, and the Spurs were struggling to find long-range snipers. It had only been a year ago that Martin averaged 20.0 points per game.
The early returns were a mixed bag, but trended upward as the season came to a close. In the first two postseason games for the Spurs, Martin poured in back-to-back double-figure scoring games but clocked DNPs in four of his next five games.
Expected to be a minor reinforcement in the event of a Spurs-Warriors Conference Finals, Martin never received his chance. Months later, he announced his retirement via a newspaper ad in Ohio.