{"id":116928,"date":"2025-01-09T07:30:52","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T12:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=116928"},"modified":"2025-01-09T04:59:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T09:59:27","slug":"kj-martin-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/09\/kj-martin-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"76ers Key Trade Piece Eligible To Be Dealt On January 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last offseason saw numerous solid players only receive minimum contracts. Players such as Tyus Jones<\/a> and Gary Trent Jr<\/a>. certainly have resumes that should have allowed them to sign for more than the minimum, but that\u2019s what they ended up getting (although Jones reportedly turned down larger deals because he had the opportunity to start with the Phoenix Suns). That\u2019s why it was surprising for some to see KJ Martin<\/a> re-sign with the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $16 million deal.<\/p>\n

It seemed like an overpay for the now 24-year-old Martin, son of former first overall pick Kenyon Martin<\/a>. There was a method to Philadelphia\u2019s madness though.<\/p>\n

76ers Key Trade Piece Eligible To Be Dealt On January 15<\/h2>\n

KJ Martin Can Be Traded In 6 Days<\/h3>\n

There was a reason that the 76ers gave Martin that deal. It was done intentionally. Philadelphia re-upped Martin at a higher price point knowing that he could be used as a potential trade chip later in the season. He is eligible to be traded on January 15.<\/p>\n

The 76ers have a top-heavy roster when it comes to their player salaries<\/a>. Three players in Joel Embiid<\/a>, Paul George<\/a>, and Tyrese Maxey<\/a> are combining to make nearly $136 million this season. They are also the only three on Philadelphia\u2019s roster who are making at least $10 million this year.<\/p>\n

The next highest-paid player on the 76ers after those three is Caleb Martin<\/a>, who is making about $8.15 million. Mid-level salaries are often needed to be used, or combined, in order to make a deal. Along with KJ Martin, the only other players making at least $5 million are Kelly Oubre Jr.<\/a> ($7.98 million, player option for $8.38 million in 2025-26) and Andre Drummond<\/a> (exactly $5 million, player option for same in 2025-26). Eric Gordon<\/a> is making $3.3 million with a player option at $3.47 million for 2025-26. Guerschon Yabusele<\/a> ($2.09 million), Kyle Lowry<\/a> ($3.3 million), and Reggie Jackson<\/a> ($3.3 million) are on expiring deals.<\/p>\n

Since Martin\u2019s second year is non-guaranteed (becomes fully guaranteed on January 10, 2026<\/a>), a team that acquires him could decide to move on next season and take the cash savings.<\/p>\n

Philadelphia Looking To Improve Roster<\/h3>\n

With the 76ers playing improved, but still five games under .500, a trade for Philadelphia<\/a> could be on the way. The trade deadline is less than a month away on February 6. Signing Paul George<\/a> in free agency was supposed to allow Philadelphia to become a title contender. Instead at 15-20, they are currently in 11th-place in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

Now in his fifth NBA season, KJ Martin has appeared in 24 games (seven starts) for the 76ers this season. He has posted averages of 6.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.8 assists. Martin has averaged 20 minutes per contest, receiving more playing time than expected due to injuries on the team.<\/p>\n

A stress reaction in his left foot has sidelined Martin for the last seven outings. It was said at the time of the injury that he would be re-evaluated in two weeks<\/a> (two week mark was Wednesday). There\u2019s a good chance he will be back on the court though prior to the trade deadline. It will soon be seen if the Sixers purposeful overpay of KJ Martin proves to be a genius move if he is used in a trade to acquire a quality piece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last offseason saw numerous solid players only receive minimum contracts. Players such as Tyus Jones and Gary Trent Jr. certainly have resumes that should have allowed them to sign for more than the minimum, but that\u2019s what they ended up getting (although Jones reportedly turned down larger deals because he had the opportunity to start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5060,"featured_media":116942,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,3,13],"tags":[48975,662,50],"class_list":["post-116928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-76ers","tag-kj-martin","tag-nba-trade-deadline","tag-paul-george"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116928"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116955,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116928\/revisions\/116955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}