KJ Martin’s next NBA stop has a familiar feel.
After being cut by the Utah Jazz in favor of Kevin Love and then going a full year without another shot, Martin has landed with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a training camp deal, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto. He’ll be in camp competing for a roster spot, and in the process he becomes the latest former Jazz player to end up in Minnesota.
That list keeps growing. Martin now joins Rudy Gobert and Cody Williams as Jazz alumni who later found their way to the Timberwolves.
He’s also the second straight former Jazz player to make that move after Utah moved on from him, following Johnny Juzang last year. Juzang made the team, though he didn’t play much once the season played out.
Since the Gobert trade four years ago, the Jazz-to-Wolves pipeline has turned into a running theme. The group now includes Gobert, Martin, Williams, Juzang, Mike Conley Jr., Joe Ingles, Kyle Anderson, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
From Minnesota’s side, the fit is easy enough to understand. The Timberwolves have earned a reputation for squeezing value out of players other teams couldn’t fully unlock, and that has already helped Jazz alumni like NAW reach levels few expected. Martin isn’t being brought in as a headline answer, but as a low-cost swing on a player who still offers something useful.
He’s an athletic, rim-running lob threat, and Minnesota could use that kind of body after trading Naz Reid to Charlotte for LaMelo Ball and dumping Julius Randle to Brooklyn. Martin doesn’t carry the same ceiling as either player, at least as far as the source material frames it, and a training camp deal doesn’t exactly read like a one-man replacement plan.
It feels more like Minnesota is trying to patch together value in the aggregate. That’s where the Timberwolves have made a habit of surprising people, and why Martin is at least a reasonable flyer. If it clicks, there’s a path where he sticks long enough that he won’t need another training camp invite anytime soon.
And given Minnesota’s ongoing interest in Jazz alumni, the move fits the pattern. Martin may not be the most prominent name in that group, but he was the last team he played for before this opportunity. For a Wolves team looking to keep adding low-risk bets, that’s enough to make the gamble worth it.
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