Indiana Pacers Waive Kelan Martin To Create Flexibility Ahead Of Contract Guarantee Deadline

With just one day to spare before all contracts in the NBA became fully guaranteed, the Indiana Pacers waived forward Kelan Martin.

Martin, who had a contract that wasn’t fully guaranteed this season, was let go on Thursday. The 26-year old has played in 27 games for the Pacers throughout the 2021-22 campaign and even started one game when injuries were overwhelming his team.

This move had less to do with Martin’s talent and more to do with flexibility for the Pacers going forward. Every player who had a partially or non-guaranteed contract who was not waived by Friday would have the entirety of their contract guaranteed for the remainder of the season. By cutting ties with the Butler University product, Indiana removed about $900,000 from its books and created a roster spot.

“That’s a tough one,” Pacers head coach Carlisle said of moving on from Martin after a practice on Friday. Carlisle shared that he thinks Martin will get scooped up by a team quickly based on how he played in Indiana. “There are reasons that probably are a little more big picture than appear right now,” the coach added when explaining the move. “I really liked the way he played. He helped us win some games.”

Martin burst on to the scene for the Pacers this year. In his first seven appearances of the season, the bulky wing averaged 7.3 points per game and shot 50% on three-point looks. He was a spark for the Pacers bench with a few guys sidelined due to injuries.

That impressive play kept Martin in the rotation for a while. “Kelan, first of all, he’s tenacious defensively,” Pacers center Myles Turner said earlier this season. “Offensively, he’s one of the better scorers we have on this team.”

But after that seven-game stretch, his offensive potency plummeted. The 6-foot-5-inch forward shot 23.2% from deep in his next 20 appearances, and his general effectiveness off the dribble declined as well. His defense has been constantly rock-solid this year for Carlisle’s team, but his offensive impact waned throughout the season.

So did his minutes. Martin entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols on December 31, but prior to that, his spot in the rotation was already slipping away. The three-year pro was completely out of the rotation for a Pacers win against Detroit on December 16, and in the next three games combined, he played just 19 total minutes. Martin had essentially lost his spot as a guy getting nightly minutes.

With contracts set to guarantee yesterday, the Pacers had decisions to make on three players who had contracts that were not fully guaranteed — Martin, Oshae Brissett, and the recently signed Keifer Sykes. Brissett contributes on a nightly basis for the blue and gold and is one of the team’s better players off the bench; he was a lock to remain with the squad for the rest of the season. But Sykes very recently joined the team and could have been a candidate to be let go. However, the rookie had 40 points and 11 assists in his last two games, and with backup point guard T.J. McConnell out for a few more months, Sykes became needed by the Pacers quickly. He ended up having his contract guaranteed for the rest of the season.

“It feels amazing,” Sykes detailed Friday. He found out that he would not be waived earlier that day from Pacers assistant coach Jenny Boucek. “I’m resilient, I’m persistent, I work hard, I believe in myself. And [the Pacers] believe in me. I’m super blessed.”

All of that meant that Martin was the most expendable Pacer on a non-guaranteed contract. And since the Pacers wanted to make a change in preparation for a big picture move, as Carlisle explained, they decided to move on from the reserve wing, even if it was painful to do.

The money savings that come from waiving the 26-year old are nice for the Pacers as they have been flirting with the luxury tax line all season. They now have more room to breathe and make future tweaks. But the real boon for the blue and gold is the open roster spot, which could allow them to do several things going forward.

The most obvious task the Pacers can now do is sign a new player — they didn’t have an open spot on the team prior to waiving Martin. If the struggling squad wants to add a young player with some upside or a useful vet that can ignite the franchise, they are now able to do so. Lance Stephenson, who is playing for the Pacers on a 10-day hardship contract, is an obvious candidate for this after he scored 30 points for the team on Wednesday. But he is not the only candidate — two-way guard Duane Washington could make some sense, too.

NBA teams are now permitted to sign players to 10-day contracts, so the Pacers could bring in some guys on temporary deals to see how they fit with the team going forward before doing something more permanent, if they are so inclined.

Another benefit the Pacers gain from having an extra roster spot is the ability to make a one-for-two trade. Indiana has been the subject of rebuild rumors all season, though the team’s owner, Herb Simon, shot them down. If the front office does decide to shake things up, having an extra roster spot could make it easier to facilitate any trades the team decides to make.

All these advantages are possible from just one roster spot, and what makes that space on a team so valuable mid-season is that it can provide benefit in multiple ways. For example, the Pacers could opt to fill that roster spot with a player on a 10-day contract, make a lopsided trade after that temporary deal expires, and they re-sign the player who was previously on the 10-day deal for the rest of the season. Such a string of transactions is just one way that the Pacers can be flexible now that they have a roster spot — and these options are not ones that Indiana brass had prior to waiving Martin.

Inking Stephenson to some sort of deal feels like the most logical move for the franchise. He has been a fan favorite in Indianapolis for nearly a decade now, and the organization could use his popularity to bring some eyeballs back to the 14-25 team. But the team could go in many directions with their newfound flexibility, and that is ultimately why they decided to move on from Martin.

The Pacers could be one of the more active teams in the NBA on the transaction front over the course of the next month. Having more options available will make things easier on the front office in that span. Kelan Martin provided utility to the Pacers during his two-season stint with the team, but the franchise needed flexibility going forward more than they needed Martin. It is unfortunate that the team had to cut a contributor, albeit a minor one, to accomplish their goals, but the Pacers should be better off in the long run thanks to their newfound fluidity. This waiver can’t be properly graded until the roster spot is filled, but there is a good chance this move pays off in the long run for the blue and gold.