The Philadelphia 76ers have sent KJ Martin and two future 2nd round picks to the Detroit Pistons to get under the Luxury Tax. Detroit can now utilize their available cap space to absorb Martin’s contract, or reroute Martin in an upcoming trade before the trade deadline is complete. Martin signed a non-fully guaranteed $16 million contract in the offseason. The hopes was that the contract would be easy to move off of in the event they needed to do so.

Martin is averaging 6.4 points and 3 rebounds per game, on just 20 minutes of action. He has missed the last 21 games with a left foot injury. Martin is an electric transition scorer, who can guard 1 through 4 positions on the floor. Martin does most of his damage in transition, as well as cutting to the basket on pick and roll opportunities. He has improved as an outside shooter this season. Albeit on small volume, Martin is shooting 38% from beyond the arc.

The Pistons are improving our already athletic wing rotation even more with the acquisition of KJ Martin.

20 MPG
62% FG
38% 3FG
83% FT

Also one hell of a defender. pic.twitter.com/oTRtbYDN3G

— The Detroit Elite™️ (@TheDetroitElite) February 5, 2025

Role

Martin would likely log backup Power Forward minutes behind Tobias Harris. Although his statistics don’t jump off the page, Martin certainly provides Detroit with more athleticism, and would equip Cade Cunningham with yet another lob threat to revert to. Martin is an upgrade at the wing/power forward position over Simone Fontecchio, who has struggled much of the year.

In the end, the Pistons can’t lose in this deal. They don’t give up anything in this scenario, and simply acquire additional draft assets and a rotational player. This transaction could quite possibly be the pre-cursor to a upcoming larger deal involving other teams prior to the deadline.