Kevin Martin announces retirement from NBA

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Former Zanesville Blue Devil star and longtime NBA shooting guard Kevin Martin has announced his retirement from professional basketball.

The former Blue Devil played 12 years in the NBA for five different teams. While at Zanesville High School he was second team All-Ohio his senior year, averaging 22.1 points per game.

Martin announced his retirement from professional basketball in an ad in the Zanesville Times Recorder.

“To my community, I think the way I have always wanted to do it was on a personal level with the place that has always been there for me as I started my journey as a 18-year-old kid. That place is Zanesville, Ohio. It was always about you,” Martin said in his statement.

The 6’7” shooting guard played collegiately at Western Carolina after high school and was drafted in the first round of the 2004 NBA draft. He most recently played for the Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs in the 2015-16 NBA season before becoming a free agent.

For his career, Martin averaged twenty or more points per game in half of the seasons he played. He walks away from professional basketball with 12,396 points, 1,141 three-pointers made, and an average of 17.4 points per game.

Martin said in his ad that he plans to donate $100,000 through the Kevin Martin Youth Foundation to improve the youth of the community.