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2024 Free Agents - Kenyon Martin, Jr.

Summary
Martin had some doubters coming into the 2020 draft, as some draft evaluators did not even see him as someone that should be drafted. Nevertheless, the Rockets selected him with the 52nd pick, and he showed to be a steal at that spot early. The context of his success is a little tricky, as the Rockets were very bad during his first few seasons, but he appears to have some real upside.

Martin is an athletic wing that can finish well above the rim, and has had some legitimate poster dunks. He runs hard and is a real threat in transition, and he hit a very good 76% at the rim in '22-'23.

Martin has shot a slightly below-average 34% from three, but defenses are generally fine leaving him open, so the vast majority of those attempts come on wide open spot-up attempts, making that mark even less impressive. Martin rebounds well for a wing and also has a really nice block rate. 

Despite the Rockets having a deep roster of young players, Martin received a good amount of minutes in '22-'23, including starting a good number of games. However, he didn't get many minutes in '23-'24 for the 76ers, as he was not in the regular rotation. Martin will still be only 23 years old as an unrestricted free agent in 2024, so I wouldn't be surprised if he had some real interest from teams that see some potential in him.
 
Cap Considerations
Martin will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.1 million cap hold and Full Bird rights, meaning the 76ers will have no restrictions on re-signing him. If a player has a smaller cap hold than his starting salary, his team can use cap space to sign-free agents before using Bird Rights to re-sign its own free agents, so the 76ers can take advantage if they under up operating under the cap.

If Martin is brought back by the 76ers on a multi-year contract that is above the minimum, they could benefit from frontloading his contract, as it could give them additional flexibility in the future. Doing so would not cost them any cap space because of his low cap hold.

If Martin becomes a free agent, other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or possibly even the Room MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him.

Potential Teams: 76ers, Hornets, Pacers, Spurs, Pistons

Predicted Contract: 2-year, $10 million with the 76ers

Actual Contract: 2-year, $16 million (2nd year non-guaranteed) with the 76ers

The 76ers took advantage of Martin's low cap hold, using their cap space to bring in talent before re-signing Martin using Bird Rights. This might be above his market value, but gives the 76ers some tradeable salary if they want to attach other assets to Martin to trade for someone else.

Last updated: 7/16/2024

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