11:09pm: Milwaukee and Minnesota had talks about Martin, but the Bucks merely wanted to explore the idea, sources told Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops, adding that one source described the talks merely as due diligence (Twitter links). The Bucks, like other teams interested in Martin, have reservations about his player option, Scotto also tweets.
10:44pm: The Bucks have expressed interest in acquiring shooting guard Kevin Martin from the Timberwolves, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN reports (Twitter link). The 32-year-old was reportedly made available on the trade market by Minnesota last month. The Wolves had spoken with two unnamed teams about Martin earlier this season but were reluctant to move him after getting off to a promising 8-8 start, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press, who reported Martin’s availability last month, after Minnesota fell off its early-season pace. The team wishes to clear up more playing time for its younger wing players like Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine, according to Krawczynski.
Milwaukee’s interest in Martin is curious considering that the Bucks are currently the 13th ranked team in the Eastern Conference and seemingly out of playoff contention, though the team has been looking to add some veteran leadership, which Martin could certainly help provide. The Bucks were reportedly interested in acquiring Caron Butler, but they have since apparently cooled on pursing the swingman, and they have also met with power forward Carlos Boozer multiple times in recent weeks, according to reports. The Kings are also interested in Martin, as Wolfson reported earlier, and the Bulls and Grizzlies have looked into trading for him, too, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. However, Memphis has resisted attempts from Minnesota for a swap of Martin for Courtney Lee, as USA Today’s Sam Amick relayed. The shooting guard was also the subject of trade talk last winter, when a series of reports identified the Mavericks, Wizards, Bulls, Kings and Rockets as interested parties, though late Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders didn’t appear willing to part with Martin at the time.
Martin has appeared in 29 games for the Wolves this season, including 12 starts. He is averaging 11.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in just 23.8 minutes per game, which is his lowest amount of playing time since his rookie campaign of 2004/05. Through 688 career regular season games, Martin is averaging 17.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists to go along with a shooting line of .438/.385/.870. The veteran is earning $7.085MM on the year and possesses a player option for 2016/17 worth $7,377,500. Chuck Myron of Hoops Rumors examined Martin’s trade candidacy earlier this week.
I wouldn’t tinker with my core if I were the Bucks. Unless the Wolves ask for relatively little in return, I wouldn’t do this one if I were Milwaukee.
With the trade being for Martin to fill a need at sg and trading a pick a vasquez who is an injured back up means it doesn’t hurt there core at all and gives them a viable scoring option
Kevin Martin is a one-dimensional player; despite the Bucks’ backcourt injuries, bringing him in won’t get them any closer to playoffs.
Yea but they need a player who can score in bunches and a player who is a professional scorer bucks have a offense with no real go to scorer Martin can do that if he gets the minutes
I’d take that trade any day both ways as a t wolves fan I think grievis is exactly the pg we need I would explore Rubio trade to knicks for Lance Thomas and some other small assets and Adrian Payne for a low first round (clippers,spurs pick) that’s enough assets to trade up in a similar way they did this year for jones. Timberwolves need to invest in some stash overseas and high risk high reward players this year’s draft to prevent log jam at every position and if pieces get to be to expensive let them walk and insert one of those development guys.