One cherished Miami Heat player could be leaving town on the next bus, less than a year after his exploits during the postseason. Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Saturday that Heat forward Caleb Martin is set to leave as a free agency this summer.
According to Winderman, Martin recently turned down his $7.1 million player option for the upcoming campaign and will probably earn a sum that is nearly twice that from another organisation.
One of the Heat’s most well-known undrafted players, Martin, 28, had a breakout season in the 2023 postseason. Martin scored 25 points or more many times in the team’s seven-game triumph against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals. He also received four of the nine votes cast for ECF MVP, just missing out to teammate Jimmy Butler, who received five of the nine votes.
Martin’s 2023–24 campaign was not as fruitful; on somewhat poorer shooting statistics, he averaged a very meek 10.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. Despite this, Martin is still a top-notch defender who shoots 35.7 percent from three-point range in his career and frequently puts pressure on opposition defences with his aggressive drives to the basket.
It’s not always the case that hot role actors succeed in other contexts (see Nunn, Kendrick, and Vincent, Gabe). However, it sounds like there are many more clubs who would be interested in signing Martin at a salary of almost $14 million year. Fortunately for Miami, however, at least one significant roster concern has been cleared up.