{"id":129713,"date":"2025-03-20T15:23:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T19:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=129713"},"modified":"2025-03-20T15:24:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T19:24:06","slug":"cody-martin-suns-impact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/20\/cody-martin-suns-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"The Suns&#8217; Newest Face is Thriving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Phoenix Suns have had a lot of issues this season. Notably, the Suns&#8217; main problems have been on the defensive side of the ball. Phoenix currently has a bottom-five <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">defensive rating<\/a> in the NBA at 116.4. However, the defense has improved over the last stretch of games Phoenix ranks 11th in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/stats\/teams\/advanced?LastNGames=5&amp;dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> defensive rating<\/a> over the past five games.<\/p>\n<p>The reasoning? Well, the team made some rotational changes, and those have helped this team back on its quest for the playoffs. The addition of rookies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dunnry01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ryan Dunn<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/ighodos01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oso Ighodaro<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/03\/19\/phoenix-suns-rookies-make-positive-impacts\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">back into the lineup<\/a>, has helped. But another key factor has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martico01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cody Martin, <\/a>he is the Suns&#8217; newest face in the lineup. In his limited minutes, he has shown Suns fans precisely what they want to see, with many wanting to keep him for the future. Let&#8217;s dive into Martin&#8217;s recent impact.<\/p>\n<h2>The Suns&#8217; Newest Face is Thriving<\/h2>\n<h3>What Martin Brings to the Suns<\/h3>\n<p>As we alluded to, he brings more of a defensive identity. Martin had been sidelined since arriving in Phoenix with a sports hernia. He was cleared to play the other night vs Sacramento but did not suit up. In the next contest vs the Lakers, he got his first taste of playing time for the Suns. Since then, he has suited up in two other contests where he has brought a more expansive role. The outcome, you may ask? The Suns are 2-0 and are currently the 10th and final seed in the play-in. This was also the first time since January 27th the Suns had won consecutive back-to-back games.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Tonight&#8217;s win for the Suns marks the first time since January 27 in which they have won consecutive games. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lsom7DyaW0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/lsom7DyaW0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 John Voita (@DarthVoita) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DarthVoita\/status\/1902578545240748270?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 20, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>\u00a0A Breakdown of Martin&#8217;s Time in Phoenix<\/h3>\n<p>Notably, he is a twin, brother of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martica02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caleb Martin<\/a> who plays for the Dallas Mavericks. Caleb is most notably known for his success on the Heat, but he was in Charlotte alongside Cody too. Until the deadline, Cody had spent his entire six-year career in Charlotte. When analyzing Martin&#8217;s game, there is a lot to look at.<\/p>\n<p>Since he arrived, he has only played for a limited time but has stood out in those minutes. Working alongside players <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/onealro01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Royce O&#8217;Neale,<\/a> Oso Ighodaro, and Ryan Dunn, he has been able to integrate perfectly into this bench unit.<\/p>\n<p>In his recent contest vs the Bulls, he showed how impactful he could be for this team in the long term. He had seven points, three steals and one block. That block came immediately when he checked in to give him some life in the game. Martin also showed hustle and grit when competing on the court, which the Suns had not demonstrated before his injection. The Suns have a new energy brand from Martin, who said he could provide himself to be a Swiss army knife player, doing whatever is needed. I argue that he has lived up to that in just a short stint.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Cody Martin on what he brings to Suns: &#8220;I&#8217;m just looking to be myself&#8230;.Just try to take pride on the defensive end, and I feel like that&#8217;s what I provide. Just being a good teammate. And I feel like I&#8217;ve always been categorized as a Swiss Army knife, so I just try to be that&#8221; <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sghww8pLDj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/sghww8pLDj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GeraldBourguet\/status\/1889501444644151736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>What the Suns Should do with Martin?<\/h3>\n<p>Martin has impacted winning, so the plan should be to keep him, correct? I would think so, but as we all know, the Suns want to fall below the second apron. Martin has a guaranteed contract, which allows the Suns to waive him without any repercussions. If they waived him and the other newcomer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/micicva01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vasilije Micic<\/a>, they would get to their goal.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"zxx\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ubnMW1LAjw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/ubnMW1LAjw<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/v3SaKmds6a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/v3SaKmds6a<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BobbyMarks42\/status\/1900594098639102445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>That being said, if Martin is what the Suns need\u2014a defensive wing\u2014and is cheap, they should keep him. That is why I suggest they waive him, but before they do, they work a deal out. This would allow him to clear waivers, and they would come back to Phoenix on a team-friendly deal. The Suns&#8217; newest face should be welcomed back with open arms if the goal is to compete, as Mat Ishbia has been stating.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: \u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Phoenix Suns have had a lot of issues this season. Notably, the Suns&#8217; main problems have been on the defensive side of the ball. Phoenix currently has a bottom-five defensive rating in the NBA at 116.4. However, the defense has improved over the last stretch of games Phoenix ranks 11th in defensive rating over [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5333,"featured_media":129768,"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":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,28],"tags":[49781],"class_list":["post-129713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-suns","tag-cody-martin"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129713","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\/5333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129713"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129770,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129713\/revisions\/129770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}