Retired NBA big man Kenyon Martin was anything but your typical basketball player. Perhaps this is why it comes to no surprise that his own son, Kenyon “K.J.” Martin Jr., has himself decided to take on an unconventional path in his road to the NBA by opting not to play in college next season.

K.J. has decided to play professionally for a year before he enters himself to the 2020 NBA Draft, something that his father supports one hundred percent. As a matter of fact, Martin Sr. has taken it upon himself to make sure that he helps his son get ready for what he hopes to be a long and productive NBA career.

“We are going to show and prove,” Martin told Marc J. Separs of The Undefeated. “He made a decision. It’s on me to get him prepared and put him in the best position possible to reach his ultimate goal, which is to play in the NBA.”

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Martin Sr. went on to express how he completely disagrees with his son's current recruiting rank, and how this means very little to them.

“Everyone is with this ranking thing and say, ‘He is not ranked high. …’ Ranking doesn’t have anything to do with skill set. … You average a double-double on two state championship teams and they have you ranked 237th? That’s asinine to me,” said Martin Sr., who was an All-Star and played in two NBA Finals before retiring in 2015. “I know basketball well. I know what I see. I know what he needs to work on. I know what he needs to get better at. And he is willing to do it. …

“The synopsis is people just don’t know what he is capable of doing on the basketball floor. He did what his high school team needed him to do.”

The Martins have indeed taken on quite a challenging path here, and it will be a difficult road ahead. Nonetheless, they seem hell bent on proving their doubters wrong, so hopefully, we get to see Martin Jr. in the NBA two years from now.