With KJ Martin’s new contract Daryl Morey and the Sixers are ready to pull off one more trade to improve the roster

It has been a very long and patient ride for Sixers fans over the past year. It wasn’t too long ago that Daryl Morey traded a disgruntled James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers for a package of players and draft picks.

With Tobias Harris leaving, the Sixers had even more flexibility and used it to their advantage. Morey took his newfound cap space and gave it to Paul George a few weeks ago, along with signing key free agents Andre Drummond and Caleb Martin, while retaining Kelly Oube Jr.

One player that isn’t mentioned much but has turned out to be a key piece to the 76ers roster construction is Kenyon Martin Jr. His stint with the Sixers has been very brief and frankly unmemorable, as he averaged only 3.7 points per game over 715 minutes of action last season.

Currently, KJ Martin is considered a fringe NBA player but his athleticism suggests there is some untapped potential that could draw interest from teams around the NBA.

His skillset is intriguing for sure, but really, teams will mainly find interest because Daryl Morey and the Philadelphia 76ers just gave him a two-year balloon contract to turn Martin into a valuable trade asset.

The Philadelphia 76ers signed KJ Martin to a two-year, $16 million deal

Free agent forward KJ Martin has agreed on a two-year, $16 million deal to return to the Philadelphia 76ers, Aaron Mintz and Andrew Morrison of @caabasketball tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/mHOUEQJnAl

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2024

The contract is considered to be a balloon deal which for those confused, is basically a short-term contract with an average annual value higher than his actual market worth. Teams do this so that a player’s inflated salary can be used so that his inflated salary can be used to help find a trade down the line.

KJ Martin can now be traded (with picks) to any team that is looking to move a player that makes less than him.

That brings us to the trade proposal from Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley. The Sixers could look acquire forward Dorian Finney-Smith from the Brooklyn Nets for KJ Martin (via sign-and-trade) and a top-four protected first-round draft pick in 2026.

Sixers Mock Trade

Bleacher Report trade idea

76ers get:
Dorian Finney-Smith

Nets get:
KJ Martin (S&T)
2026 1st round pick (top 4 protected)

— J🐐 (@SixersJustin) July 12, 2024

KJ has a unique contract situation and honestly, it’s confusing to understand exactly how this all works. Shoutout to our guy Jacob Moreno for making sense of it. Basically, here’s what we’re looking at moving forward.

The Sixers can get creative with KJ Martin’s contract since it’s now a “balloon contract”. It has opened the possibility, along with draft picks, of offering Martin in a sign-and-trade deal to any NBA team that’s willing to take a shot on him AND has a player that makes less than him.

The Brooklyn Nets on-going fire sale makes the most sense.

A player on their roster (Not Ben Simmons) that would fit perfectly with the current roster construction here in Philly would be Dorian Finney-Smith.

The Sixers are not however, in the clear to trade KJ Martin with picks for DFS straight-up.

Why? Because Dorian Finney-Smith makes $14.9m a year, while KJ will probably make somewhere around $8 million given the reported contract above. The Sixers would need to offer another player in order to make the numbers match with DFS current contract.

Dorian Finney-Smith via Bleacher Report:

Finney-Smith is a shape-shifting defensive stopper with the lateral quickness to keep up with guards and the strength to bang with bigs near the basket. His three-ball has cooled a bit in recent seasons (34.3 percent over the past two), but considering where it was the three campaigns prior (38.9 percent), Philly would have every reason to believe the shot could be reignited by way of all the clean looks its stars would create.

For as much criticism as we gave Daryl Morey, at least this summer his offseason plan and execution has been borderline magical, and it has the Sixers in a fantastic position to truly compete for an NBA Championship.