With media day and training camp this following week, and the Minnesota Timberwolves sitting at 14 players on their active roster, Tim Connelly made two more additions to compete for that final 15th spot. KJ Martin and Drew Timme were both signed to training camp deals and will be fighting for the final spot on the roster.
Martin, in particular, is an intriguing name. He was a pretty prominent figure on the tanking Houston Rockets teams of the early 2020s, posting a career-best season in 2022-23. That year, he played in all 82 games, averaging 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds on 56.9 percent from the field.
Unfortunately, after that season, he struggled to maintain a consistent role between stints with the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, and most recently, the Utah Jazz two seasons ago. Last season, Martin played in China for the Ningbo Rockets, but now he's aiming to make an NBA comeback in Minnesota.
How can Martin earn a spot on the Timberwolves roster?
I'll be honest, the odds of Martin making the roster, let alone playing any meaningful minutes this season, are pretty slim. This is because Chris Finch recently said during a radio appearance with Chad Hartman on WCCO that the Wolves will likely look to keep the 14th roster spot open for flexibility purposes.
That being said, I don't think it's impossible either, and Martin has some translatable skills that the Wolves certainly lack, which is why they're giving him the shot. His strength is positional rebounding. At 6-foot-6, he's relatively undersized for a forward, but that doesn't stop him from always being active on the glass. There's a little Josh Hart in his game when it comes to his knack for being around the rim and finding rebounds.
The Wolves are fairly thin on reserve frontcourt options for the upcoming season, meaning that their rebounding is a little of a mystery so far, and Martin is certainly a body who can help with that. The problem, however, is that he can't really shoot, and that might be what ultimately holds him back from a role.
He's a career 32.9 percent shooter from deep, which isn't the absolute worst percentage in the world, but he also doesn't really shoot them. His career high in attempts is only 2.9, and since that season, it's only gone down. It's to be determined whether the positives in his game outweigh his shooting.
If the Wolves believe that his rebounding can potentially be a difference-maker on this team, then maybe they'll use that last roster spot after all. But Martin is out of two-way options, so it's either an active roster spot or a pure G League contract. He'll need one impressive training camp to make the roster, but it's not impossible.
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