The Philadelphia 76ers were fortunate to have at least gotten some serviceable play from KJ Martin, who is currently out of the league right now. The 24-year-old, who split time between Philly and the Utah Jazz last season, ultimately got cut by the latter before training camp even began, and since then, there has been an utter lack of news about what’s next for his NBA career.
Since then, Martin has gone on to China, where he is now currently playing basketball. He is rostered with the Ningbo Rockets of the Chinese Basketball Association, and it is probably safe to say that the will most likely spend the entire 2025-26 circuit overseas.
Having said that, it is a tad difficult to see him cracking an NBA roster in the near future. Martin, as physically gifted and as superb of an athlete as he is, does not have the kind of skill set which teams desire from rotation-caliber forwards, at least for now.
Former 76ers forward KJ Martin is out of the NBA — and that may remain to be the case moving forward
Martin, despite being a little undersized for his position, was nowhere near a liability on defense due to his athletic chops. He has the necessary burst to keep up and make up for the usual mistakes on that end, as well as the length to guard multiple positions.
However, it is his offense which has become a dangling part of his game. During his first three seasons with the Rockets, he was actually a decent floor spacer, shooting threes at a league-average rate in two of those campaigns.
Unfortunately, that aspect of his game got stymied when he went to Philly. He basically stopped shooting threes-pointers within the flow of the offense, and he relegated himself exclusively to being a finisher around the rim. And as you might expect, that did not culminate in him getting a consistent role.
Things did not change when the 76ers sent him to the Jazz shortly before last season’s trade deadline. At that point, injuries have made him rusty, and his otherwise good start in Philly last season quickly became buried. Lo and behold, he is now out of the league with Utah expectedly partings ways with him and his non-guaranteed deal.
There is still room for KJ Martin to make it back to the NBA. After all, he is a high-energy guy who plays with complete regard to the intangibles. Having said that, the reality is it will take a lot of improvement for him to get another call anytime soon. Hopefully, he delivers on that end.