Once was enough for Spencer Hawes.

One tweak of his left knee last September while performing a team-wide conditioning test before training camp. One more arthroscopic surgery to fix the damage and push back his NBA debut six weeks. One more reason to be cautious about his already problematic knee.

The second-year center has made it clear to the Kings that he won't make the same mistake twice, as he has refused to take part in the conditioning test the organization deemed mandatory.

The test, which Kings coach Reggie Theus said is conducted by "a lot of teams" in the NBA, lasts approximately 10 minutes and consists of extended sprints up and down the floor commonly known as suicides. Players must finish within a predetermined time period based on which position they play. Players also had the option of working out at the team's practice facility for two weeks before training camp and spending three days conditioning with strength coach Daniel Shapiro as a way of avoiding the test.

Hawes, according to numerous team sources, may be fined for every practice day that passes without him taking the test. Yet even after a meeting with Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie on Tuesday afternoon, Hawes said he's too concerned about the potential damage to change his stance.

"With me and my history, the running and the cutting and the continued sprinting like that is something where, when I did it last year, it put more pressure on my knees than just playing basketball and, I felt, more than any other drill we did or any other game scenario we did," Hawes said by phone after the meeting. "I don't want to sound like I'm a cripple or anything, but you have to make adjustments and you have to (look) at the long-term aspect of your career."

The history is extensive, to be sure. Hawes had microfracture surgery on his left knee when he was 14, then had another surgery six months later when the cartilage wasn't sufficiently restored. One year before his procedure entering last season, he also had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and missed five weeks leading up to his freshman season at Washington. Petrie, however, indicated before the meeting that the history of the conditioning test itself does not bode well for Hawes.

"We've had the test for the last two or three years, and it's been a requirement that everybody has to eventually pass it," Petrie said. "To this point, at some point, everybody has (passed it).

"It's not a major issue at this point. He's in the best shape I've ever seen him."

Although the reasons varied, Hawes wasn't alone in his protesting of the test. Theus acknowledged that numerous players initially complained. Theus, who said he had considered skipping the test altogether before the griping began, said fifth-year shooting guard Kevin Martin implored him to hold the entire team accountable.

Outside of Hawes, all but John Salmons have completed it. The swingman has a slight groin injury and has been allowed to delay taking the test.

"It's almost tradition in the NBA," Theus said of the test. "A lot of teams – not every team, but a lot of teams – do tests like this. And if everybody does it, then everybody's got to do it. One guy can't make his own rules."

Hawes said he simply hopes for a compromise.

"I wasn't coming in here trying to big-time the test or anything," said Hawes, who consulted his personal doctor in Seattle. "I know what the perception looks like being a second-year player, but I know my body.

"I talked to Geoff, and we kind of got on the same page. Hopefully we can figure out something else, do something that's not going to put so much stress on the knees."

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