Over this past offseason, the Miami Heat zeroed in on a potential re-signing of their top free agent Caleb Martin. Despite putting in the efforts, and even clarifying with Martin and his agent on the justification of their contract offer, he jumped ship to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Heat offered Martin a deal that would have paid him $65 million over the next five years. But he thought he was worth more than that and believed he could get it elsewhere. He in fact did not.
By the time Martin explored the market and couldn’t find anything nearly as enticing as Miami’s initial offer, he was forced to settle for a four-year $35 million deal with Philadelphia. Pat Riley and the Heat were then unable to put that same offer back on the table.
The two-way impact that he brought to the team was one of many of the franchise's undrafted success stories. Once cut from the Charlotte Hornets, to be picked up by Riley on a two-way contract, to earning his way into a regular rotation role and standard deal— Martin was a key piece around the Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro core for three consecutive seasons. And a legitimate playoff riser, as was documented by his scorching 2023 Eastern Conference finals performance against the Boston Celtics.
He averaged 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists during that seven-game series on route to the franchise's second NBA Finals trip in four years.
His fit in South Beach is what got his career up and running, and thrived as a culture player in coach Erik Spoelstra’s system. Unfortunately, Martin has dealt with the same inconsistency issues that he had with the Heat as a role player with the 76ers this season.
Caleb Martin is averaging 9.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists on 44% shooting and 38% from 3-point range on the Philadelphia 76ers.
His overall stats are solid, especially for his Sixers price tag. Martin has appeared in 28 games this season, and started in 21 of them. Although his scoring numbers are slightly down from the previous season in Miami, his shooting efficiency has improved.
The issue has been putting together consistent production on a game-to-game basis. For example, Martin went off for a huge 23-point outing on 8 of 11 shooting overall on Christmas in an upset over the reigning champion Celtics. The next game, he contributed 5 points, followed by a 7-point performance the game after that.
Martin is capable of being an X-factor type of player on a playoff contending team, even if his shot isn’t falling. His versatility as a wing defender and ability to play multiple positions makes him the perfect system guy for any squad, just like how he was in Miami. But being that the Sixers are in the midst of a severe underwhelming season as the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference and 15-19 record overall, the consistency in his scoring is needed more out of him.
With all the injuries piling up between Philadelphia’s core of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, Martin’s impact to fill in and make up for that missed offense has been crucial for them this season.
Martin has the ability to add that support every now and then, but he has proved through his career that he shouldn’t be viewed as a reliable scoring threat. His up and down shot chart continues to be the opposite of that.