Sixers forward Caleb Martin said his return to Miami has been “bittersweet, for sure,” per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Martin has been in Miami since the weekend as the 76ers had a couple days off before facing Miami on Monday. The 29-year-old spent the past three seasons with the Heat before signing a four-year, $35MM+ deal with Philadelphia as a free agent over the offseason.
“Obviously, I had a lot of great memories here, unforgettable memories,” Martin said. “I still got lifelong relationships that I still have with guys. This is my second home.”
As Chiang writes, Martin confirmed previous reporting that he declined an extension offer from Miami that was contingent upon him picking up his 2024/25 player option worth $7.1MM. Martin would have received an additional $58MM over four years on top of that option, putting the total value at $65MM over five years.
The tricky part was the timing — Martin had to make a decision on picking up his option by June 29, the day before free agents could negotiate with rival teams. His representation thought he could get more money in free agency, which didn’t materialize. But he doesn’t fault his agent for how things played out.
“Nobody has a crystal ball,” Martin said. “At the end of the day, nothing gets approved without me giving the OK, ultimately. That’s stuff that you live and you learn. Obviously, it hurts because of all the memories and everything that comes with this and there’s obviously money left on the table. But I think there are also other aspects of the decision and how things shook out that was a good thing, and that I might have had to move on.”
Martin, who was undrafted in 2019 and was released by Charlotte before catching on with the Heat on a two-way deal three years ago, said he tries to keep things in perspective, since he still signed the most lucrative contract of his career.
“I’m very fortunate to be where I’m at and still have another guaranteed four years in this league, which is hard,” said Martin. “Coming from where I come from, if you would have told me I had a guaranteed nine years in the league, I would have never believed you. Regardless, I’m blessed. I’m very blessed to still be competing at a high level.
“I do feel like I’m in a very good spot. I feel like I would have been in a good place regardless. I would have loved to have come back and made that work, as well. It’s nothing personal against [the Heat]. I have nothing but love for them.”
Here are a few more notes from Miami:
- Star forward Jimmy Butler will return to action on Monday after missing the past four games with a right ankle sprain, the team announced (via Twitter). Butler, 35, could be a free agent in 2025 if he declines his $52.4MM player option for next season. If you count the game he was injured (he played fewer than seven minutes), the Heat went 2-3 in Butler’s absence.
- While it’s obviously welcome news that Butler will be back tonight, the Heat will be without two rotation regulars in Terry Rozier (right foot discomfort) and Jaime Jaquez, according to the the team. As Chiang of The Miami Herald writes, Jaquez suffered a right ankle sprain at the end of the third quarter in Sunday’s loss to Indiana. The second-year forward had an X-ray, which came back negative. “That’s one of the craziest ones,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Jaquez’s injury. “He just happened to be backpedaling back and stepped on (T.J.) McConnell’s foot. He says he’s fine. There’s no way to know with sprained ankles. We’ll find out when we get back to Miami.”
- First-round pick Kel’el Ware hasn’t gotten many opportunities for playing time to this point in his rookie season, but he’s embracing the team’s development plan and is trying to soak up as much knowledge as he can, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star. “I really like the way he’s developed,” Spoelstra said. “He’s embraced us and the structure. He’s responded well to it. He’s already responded very well in the weight room, gotten a lot stronger and then he’s just been diligent, working. Is it going to be perfect? You know, no. He still has a lot of things to learn and figure out where he can be most effective in his role. But if he continues to stack days with intention the way he has been, he’s going to improve very quickly.”
Is Spo done with the purposeful clown rotation, yet? This isn’t the season for it…
Herro, Richardson, Duncan Robinson, Jimmy, Bam
Or Herro, Richardson, Jimmy, Highsmith, Bam
Or Herro, Larrson/Dru Smith, Jimmy, Highsmith, Bam
Rozier and Jovic shouldn’t be starting. Jovic is not more important, with Jaime getting hurt, but he should be used as a 5/4 off the bench, depending on Kevin Love/matchups
For tonight, Alec Burks probably replaces Eozier, as a scorer off the bench, and I would expect Dru Smith to potentially play
Never thought we’d have a shot at keeping either Caleb or Highsmith; I can’t fault him, as I’ve said from the beginning. I wish he would have got paid though; it would have made it a little easier
He’s always a Miami Heat player though; I could see him being brought back in the future
Hey formerlyz, I feel you on Martin. Yup I’ve always loved his pure athleticism going back to the Nevada days. Both brothers had the ability to do the exciting rundown blocked shots and especially Caleb with the hot shooting 3’s in the second half of tournament games. Exciting stuff.
It’s fantastic how Miami was able to unlock Caleb and make him a very good NBA player. Shows their system is very solid in player development once again.
Hope you are feeling healthy and still able to get out on the court yourself. Nothing like some pick up ball even as were getting older lol.
I played a decent amount this year, got hurt a couple of times again, but not that badly, and i did really well(way better than I should have, especially against young people, and especially being in not as great shape as previous); my eyes are too poor to see the basket/the ball in most times now, so I’m going to have to fix that again, before I do too much more…
Charlotte signing Kelly Oubre, and getting rid of Caleb was really surprising. I can’t remember who I thought they would get rid of instead, but didn’t think the Heat could get Caleb b/c I thought he was the perfect fit for what they needed, and expected him to be a standard contract guy, with several teams that could have used him…Heat needed someone to replace Andre Iguodala, and give more wing minutes, and he was extremely important as someone that can play multiple positions, and do basically everything
Hope you guys are realizing the stuff I was saying about GS when they made their roster; looking pretty good…
Oh yeah it’s all good. I know you’re a basketball fan and even if you let one loose once in awhile it’s why we’re here.., talk trash a little bit but in a good way. I do it all the time but it’s in fun and never derogatory. At least I hope not LOL
You’ve been here 20 years or whatever it is just like me so you’ve got total license to say anything you want because I know where your intentions are. It’s all good.
I can’t remember ever reading anything that you’ve written that was distasteful or attacking a person’s character for no reason.
Glad to see you’re out on the courts again and yes the vision thing is a difficult one to deal with. But it just means we shoot a little more LOL
I guess with Kelly Oubre he was more a proven guy and I’m not sure what Charlotte’s cap situation was, maybe they needed to reach the floor and paying Kelly that dollar amount made more sense?
Caleb had not established his game yet and his shot was still ugly. But going to Miami they fixed it and he continued his development and wow, became a real nice player. Too bad he left the Heat but maybe he’ll come back in the future?
As a side note I hope Cody can get healthy and be 100% for the whole year. I don’t even know if he’s out or playing right now?
Butler’s not leaving Miami because, after these injuries and mediocre play this season, there is no way any team will beat his $53M player option for next year.
If he can’t play more than 60 games at his current level, no team will offer him more than 2-3 years, and it won’t be for more than $40M, if that.
I guess the question is does he take the 53 next year or hope for 3 x 25 = 75?
Probably would be his last contract but perhaps a team will give it to him? There has to be a team that thinks he could be the missing piece to get them over the hump for at least the first year, maybe the second, and then it’s wasted money the third probably lol.
I’m sure the word will get around and he and his agent will be able to sense the pulse of his value so they can make the correct decision.
I think he’s still tradeable (for small profit/expiring’s) if healthy at this deadline
The real Q becomes does Mia have the stones to dish him if they are just peddling around in 6~8th. History says probably not, but Pat Riley is a different cat, plenty capable of pushing the red button
Not too many names will be available this deadline, that probably helps Mia’s leverage if they did go thru with it