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2025 Free Agents - Kenyon Martin Jr.

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 got legitimate minutes and showed some flashes or promise. 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's a good finisher that hit 68% of his shots at the rim in '24-'25. The last season that he played heavy minutes ('22-'23) he shot 76% at the rim. Martin has shot a slightly below-average 33% 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 good 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 or '24-'25 for the 76ers, as he was not in the regular rotation and was traded to Utah at the 2025 trade deadline. Martin will still be only 24 years old as an unrestricted free agent in 2025, so he's still decently young, but his career has been on a downward trajectory the past few seasons.

Summary

Martin's $8 million salary for 2025-2026 is non-guaranteed, and if he is waived he will become an unrestricted free agent and the Jazz will have no form of Bird rights on him. If he is waived, teams could claim him off waivers, but would need to fit his salary within cap space or an exception to do so. If Martin becomes a free agent, other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or possibly even the Taxpayer MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. If Martin is waived and clears waivers, his value may have dropped low enough that he would only have offers for the minimum.

Cap Considerations

Jalen McDaniels (2 years, $9 million, 2023) Josh Okogie (2-1 years, $16 million, 2024) Jae Crowder (1 year minimum, 2024)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Hornets, Jazz, Grizzlies, Wizards, Bulls

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $2.7 million ($2.3 million cap hit) with the Hornets

Last updated: 5/10/2025

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