JULY 11TH 9:13pm: The Timberwolves have officially announced, via the team's Twitter feed, that they've acquired Martin and cash from the Thunder and will send Ridnour and a 2014 second-round pick to the Bucks. The Wolves own the Lakers 2014 second rounder, which is the selection that will go to Milwaukee. Regarding the addition of Martin, Wolves president Flip Saunders said, "He is familiar with Coach Adelman's style of play and had success playing for him in Sacramento and Houston. We expect that to continue in Minnesota." (Twitter link)
The Bucks will send the draft rights to 2003 second round pick Szymon Szewczyk to Oklahoma City in the deal and get cash back from the Thunder, the team tweeted. The Thunder will have until July 11 of next year to acquire a player via the trade exception they picked up in the deal, tweets Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman.
JULY 11TH 10:18am: The Thunder will send cash to the T-Wolves as part of the sign-and-trade for Martin, and create a $7MM TPE, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). It's still not entirely clear what the Wolves are sending out in the trade — either that missing piece has yet to be reported, or the team intends to fold its Luke Ridnour deal into this one.
JULY 10TH: Marc Stein of ESPN.com pegs the deal in the $30MM range, noting that the Wolves and Thunder will roll the agreement into a sign-and-trade that will net Oklahoma City a trade exception. It's unclear exactly what the Thunder are getting in the trade, but presumably, draft picks and/or cash will be headed OKC's way.
JULY 2ND: Kevin Martin has reached agreement with the Wolves on a four-year, $28MM deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). Sam Amick of USA Today (via Twitter) reported earlier tonight that Minnesota offered Kevin Martin a four-year deal in that vicinity. Martin is represented by Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.
Martin, of course, spent last season with the Thunder after coming over from Houston in the James Harden trade. The guard averaged 14.0 PPG while shooting 45% from the floor in 27.7 minutes per contest last season. Martin was a hot commodity this summer and the Blazers and Grizzlies were said to have serious interest in signing him.
It has been a busy day for the Timberwolves, who re-signed Chase Budinger just hours ago. The forward will get a $16MM, three-year deal from Flip Saunders & Co. Martin will pair with Ricky Rubio in the Wolves' backcourt, giving the club one of the more intriguing guard combos in the league.
The Thunder were said to be seeking a sign-and-trade for Martin if they could not retain him, but they'll now watch the guard leave without anything in return.
I love it. He can still give you some great scoring nights and has that lethal three. Mayo would’ve commanded more money, this way, maybe they can make a trade and try to resign AK.
Have to think Adelman had a big role in this signing as well.
Wow! Nice signing for the Wolves! I thought that someone was going to overpay for Martin and offer 10 Mill a year or so. 7 mill a year for Martin though is a steal. I think the Wolves will be my League Pass team this year. I am not sure how good they will be on D, but I see a lot of shootouts coming for the wolves which will make for some fun games.
Here are some additional words on KMart if you care to read:
Wolves nab Kevin Martin: link to wp.me
Martins contract is nice but the backcourt is such a liability. Martin is a minus defender and rubio isnt much better. Buddinger is average at best. This team will give up a ton of points. And Minnesota does not have a shot blocking. Sure they’ll score points but they’ll give up more.