Milwaukee Bucks head coach Jason Kidd hosted a very familiar face for a workout on Tuesday.
Kenyon Martin, a 37-year-old free agent who has appeared in just 50 games over the past two seasons, drew the praise of Kidd.
“He hasn’t played since February, so for someone who hasn’t played since February, he looked good,” Kidd said Wednesday, via Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “(He’s) thirty-seven. He’s a very smart player. He understands how to play the game.
“We’ll see. Someone is going to pick him up at some point. I think what we saw yesterday was all good stuff.”
Kidd and Martin were teammates with the then-New Jersey Nets from 2001 through 2004, when they helped lead the team to NBA Finals appearances in 2002 and 2003. They were teammates again in Kidd’s final season as a player with the 2012-2013 New York Knicks.
Martin missed the final 35 games last season after suffering an ankle injury. He underwent offseason surgery to remove bone spurs.
While the 17-16 Bucks are battling injuries, Kidd indicated that they are not necessarily desperate to sign someone like Martin.
“We just wanted to see him and this was a good time to see him,” he said. “That’s it. I didn’t keep a clock (on the workout). We went through it, had lunch with him afterwards. It was good.
“For us, doing our due diligence, that’s all we were doing with K Mart. Injuries are part of the game. Losing Jabari (Parker) for the year; (Ersan Ilyasova) working his way back from the head injury. Guys keep playing hard and guys know they’re going to get a lot of minutes, so they’re taking advantage of that.”
The Bucks are in need of help at power forward, and Martin has always been a great defender. They could do worse for a role player down the stretch.
