The Philadelphia 76ers could have signed former Miami Heat forward Caleb Martin in a much cheaper deal than expected.
$35 million is a substantial amount of money, but not in the NBA world, especially for a player who has managed to make the playoffs. Martin shined in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, which will be very helpful for the championship-hopeful Sixers. It’s almost a guarantee that Philadelphia will have to defeat the reigning champions to make it to the NBA Finals.
Martin’s proven skills led to Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus considers his four-year, $35 million contract to be one of the 12 best in the league.
“Martin, a proven playoff player for the Miami Heat with NBA Finals experience in 2022-23, was hoping for a bigger contract this summer,” Pincus wrote. “With the Heat facing budget issues and few teams with substantial spending power, Martin agreed to just $8.8 million per season (player option in the final year) to join the Sixers, who are in contention.”
The 28-year-old is expected to take over as the 76ers’ starting power forward, backed up by KJ Martin and Guerschon Yabusele. At 6-foot-4, he’s not the most prolific rebounder, but he has MVP Joel Embiid and veteran Andre Drummond at his side.
Last season, he averaged 10 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists on a mediocre 43.1 percent shooting in 64 games.
“At almost 29 years old, he’s still in his prime and for that price, Philadelphia is getting a valuable rotation player/near-starter,” Pincus wrote.
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