Nuggets’ Martin won’t apologize to Kings’ owner

DENVER — Sacramento Kings owner Joe Maloof won’t be getting an apology from Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin for his hard foul on Spencer Hawes earlier this week.

“Apologize to him? I’m not apologizing to him. I apologized to Spencer after the game, but before he opens his mouth he needs to know what’s going on,” Martin said.

Hawes strained his troublesome left knee on a scary play in Denver Monday night.

Martin fouled Hawes as the Kings center was going for a layup in the first quarter of Denver’s 118-98 win. Hawes landed awkwardly and his knee swelled up. He returned after a timeout to shoot the free throws but then left for the locker room and didn’t return.

Martin received a flagrant foul, something he said after the game was undeserved.

An MRI back in California revealed a strain but no further damage to Hawes’ knee, and he missed Sacramento’s season finale Wednesday at Minnesota.

The Sacramento Bee reported Wednesday that Maloof called Martin’s actions “thuggery” and said Martin “needs to apologize to Spencer and our organization.”

Hawes underwent microfracture surgery on the knee several years ago, and had further surgery to repair a torn meniscus in the same knee 18 months ago.

Martin, who has had a resurgent season after coming back from microfracture surgery on both knees, was taken aback over Maloof’s criticism and demand for an apology.

“I’m not apologizing to him whatsoever. I don’t owe him or the Sacramento Kings an apology,” Martin said. “I apologized to the person I needed to apologize to when I saw him when I was leaving the game.”

Martin added a dig at Maloof, whose team finished with the worst record in the NBA this season at 17-65.

“If you don’t know the circumstances — he wasn’t there, he wasn’t in Denver — then he should worry about his team getting better and getting out of last place,” Martin said.

The Nuggets, the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, open the playoffs Sunday against New Orleans.