Due to a crowded salary cap sheet, the Miami Heat have little room to make roster additions, but there is at least one scenario in which the team might add a key player to the rotation this summer.
Caleb Martin declined his $7 million player option for the 2024-25 season, preferring to enter free agency. According to the Bleacher Report Live Stream, Martin is hoping for upwards of $20 million per year and may reasonably expect to make a few million less per season from the proper team and situation.
One far-fetched option for Martin that would also assist his previous team is a sign-and-trade with the Toronto Raptors for a versatile player who won a championship with the Denver Nuggets after the 2022-23 season.
“Sign and trade: Bruce Brown for Caleb Martin,” the Bleacher Report Live Streamers proposed on Tuesday, July 2. “If Caleb says, ‘Look, I’m leaving.’ Why not offer Miami the cap flexibility of having an expiring contract with Bruce Brown? [Brown] is a good match for Miami and will most likely play there next year. The Raptors then obtain a wing, which they urgently need.
Brown has had a successful career despite playing for five different clubs throughout his six-year NBA career: the Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets, Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and Raptors.
He stood out in Brooklyn alongside Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden as a consistent starter who, despite his 6-foot-4 frame, frequently played in the front court. In 2022-23, he averaged a career-high 11.5 points per game as a small forward for the Nuggets, appearing in 80 of 82 regular-season games for a squad that went on to dominate in the playoffs and win the championship.
The Pacers granted Brown his first big payday of his career, signing him to a two-year, $45 million contract in July 2023. The second year of that deal, which corresponds to next season, is a team option that Toronto now holds after trading for his rights in January 2024.
Brown has a career average of 8.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 0.9 steals, per Basketball Reference. He is also a career 33.7% 3-point shooter on only 1.8 attempts per game, however he hit nearly 36% from long during Denver’s championship season and sank 40.4% of his 3-point attempts the previous year with the Nets.
Martin will be a huge loss for the Heat, having averaged career highs in points (10.0) and assists (2.2) as a part-time starter last season (23 starts in 64 regular-season appearances), according to Basketball Reference.
He was a crucial player in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, averaging 19.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. He also shot 48.9% from outside the arc during the Heat’s seven-game series victory.
Martin and Miami lost the Finals to Brown and the Nuggets in five games.
