Last offseason, the Utah Jazz signed Philadelphia 76ers backup center Paul Reed, a restricted free agent at the time, to a three-year, $23 million contract. To disincentivize the Sixers from matching the offer sheet, the Jazz threw in a stipulation that the contract would only be guaranteed beyond the first year if the Sixers advanced to the conference semifinals or further.
That did not deter Daryl Morey from bringing back Reed for the 2023-24 season; in fact, it may have been part of his long-term plan to build a more competitive roster around Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, granted they lost in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. And lost in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, they did.
Fast-forward a couple of months, and the Sixers’ plan heading into free agency started to take shape. They signed Paul George to a max contract on the first night of free agency. They started to fill out the roster with veteran additions Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon. They re-signed Kelly Oubre using their room mid-level exception, Kyle Lowry, to a veteran minimum deal, and they have since re-signed KJ Martin to a two-year, $16 million deal.
And then they signed do-it-all wing Caleb Martin away from the Miami Heat on a four-year, $32 million contract, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Where did they get the extra money to sign Caleb Martin outright before playing with salary cap apron fire? By waiving Paul Reed and his non-guaranteed contract, opening up nearly $8 million in additional cap space. A sign-and-trade for Reed could have allowed the Sixers to take in extra salary in return, but that would have hard-capped them at the first apron and would severely limit their ability to make moves in the future. Even though the Sixers now can only hand out veteran minimum deals, they maintain flexibility in the options at their disposal moving forward.
The importance of a ‘Swiss Army Knife’
Every championship-winning and contending team has a jack-of-all-trades type of player on their roster. Someone who can fill multiple different roles on any given night against any given matchup. Alex Caruso, Andrew Wiggins, Bruce Brown, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday all come to mind as recent champions (in Holiday’s case, twice) who played a Swiss Army Knife role for their team. The Miami Heat made a spirited run to the NBA Finals in 2023 with Caleb Martin serving as theirs- the same Caleb Martin the Sixers now employ.
The Sixers’ new starting lineup heading into next season sees three wings—Paul George, Kelly Oubre, and Caleb Martin—slotted between Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid. This is the most ideal lineup structure that Embiid has ever seen around him, and Caleb Martin’s trademark effort and tenacity fit in perfectly.
Martin, listed at 6’5” and 205 pounds, is a very physical and pesky defender, a willing shooter, and is not afraid of the bright lights. He averaged a career-high 10.0 points per game last season to go along with 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists. He elevates his game in the playoffs, where the past two seasons for the Miami Heat, Martin has averaged 12.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 51.1 percent from the field, 41.3 percent from beyond the arch, with a true shooting percentage of 64.9. Someone who plays their best in the biggest moments has been something the Sixers have needed for quite a while.
Martin’s offensive repertoire is a very nice compliment for the type of offense the Sixers will look to conduct. He is measured in his shot approach, unafraid of firing from deep but staying within himself and his role. Martin is a sneaky off-ball cutter to the rim, something Embiid really enjoyed with Oubre last season when Embiid was operating from the nail. He is capable with the ball in his hands too, attacking closeouts and using his strength and athleticism to get good shots at the rim.
Martin will be an integral piece of the Sixers’ defense as well. When the Sixers play small, he can defend power forwards inward from the perimeter and post, knowing Embiid will be at the rim to help him out. When the Sixers play Martin at the two, he can defend at the point-of-attack and can spell Tyrese Maxey from on-ball duties. His switchability along the perimeter with Kelly Oubre and Paul George will cause opposing offenses to fit with their length and knack for the basketball.
Sixers fans may still have nightmares of Josh Hart from this past year’s playoff series against the New York Knicks. They may remember someone who did all the little things on the court, made all the winning plays, dove for all the loose balls, grabbed critical offensive rebounds, and made tough shots game after game. The Sixers now have that type of player in Caleb Martin. Just ask the Boston Celtics, who may be back-to-back defending champions right now, if not for what Martin did in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, where he averaged 19.3 points and 6.4 rebounds with 60.2/48.9/87.5 shooting splits.
There are still more moves to come in finalizing the Sixers roster. It would not be a surprise to see Caleb Martin end up as the team’s 6th man in the long run, a role he thrived in under Erik Spoelstra in Miami. But for now, he is going to add to what has quickly become one of the best-starting fives in the entire league. The more good players the Sixers bring in that actually fit around Embiid and Maxey, the better. The more good players the Sixers bring in that will allow them to keep pace when Embiid misses his requisite 20 games, the better.
The Philadelphia 76ers made a shrewd move by waiving Paul Reed on a contract technicality in order to sign one of the better role players in the NBA. Caleb Martin is a dirty-work player who the blue-collar city of Philadelphia will embrace from day one. For a team that has desperately needed someone who will step in and do whatever it takes to win every single night, they could not have done better than Caleb Martin.
