PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com Kevin Martin's surgery will sideline him for at least eight weeks. He said he could not play with his injury, and denied talk show accusations that he's "soft."

When Kevin Martin addressed the media Friday to discuss his latest devastating injury, he was faced with questions typically reserved for radio talk shows or anonymous Internet postings.

Just seconds after Martin's opening statement, a reporter who doesn't typically cover the team asked the Kings shooting guard if he was afraid he'd gained a reputation for being soft.

"If I do get that reputation, it'll be fine because I know what I can do when I'm healthy," said Martin, who will have surgery on a left wrist hairline fracture Monday and miss at least eight weeks. "It's just something you have to fight through."

Yet as Martin sees it, it's an unfair fight that has been fostered by one of the team's own employees.