9:24pm: Martin is happy in Minnesota, and out of the teams reported to be eyeing him, Martin would only be interested in playing for Dallas, Amick tweets.
8:29pm: The Rockets and Wizards are also interested in Martin, Sam Amick of USA Today reports (Twitter links). It’s also highly unlikely that the Wolves agree to a buyout with Martin if he remains on the roster past the trade deadline, Amick adds. The Mavs are also a team that likes Martin, Amick confirms.
3:50pm: Teams are still inquiring about Martin, but the feeling is growing that he will remain with the Wolves past the deadline, Chris Mannix of SI.com reports (Twitter link).
2:32pm: The Bulls and Kings among teams with interest in Kevin Martin, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in his chat with readers, though he adds that it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Timberwolves hang on to him. Ford also lists the Wizards as a team eyeing Martin, though there were conflicting reports about their level of interest earlier this month. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports heard that Wolves coach/executive Flip Saunders has little interest in parting with Martin, though Ken Berger of CBSSports.com seemingly refuted that and put Martin on a list of players that teams are attempting to trade. Martin would be headed for a buyout if a trade doesn’t happen, according to Berger, but rival executives are surprised at the notion that Minnesota would consider a buyout, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
The Mavericks are another team that’s been linked to Martin, though it’s unclear if they truly have interest in trading for him. He’s making almost $6.793MM this season and $7.085MM next year, with a player option worth almost $7.738MM for 2016/17, so his contract figures to dissuade teams on the fence about pursuing before the deadline. The same clubs would figure to have greater interest in Martin should he buy his way off the Wolves and become available more cheaply, though that’s just my speculation.
Saunders said after making a pair of trades last week that he didn’t expect to be active again in advance of the deadline. The Wolves haven’t given the impression that they want to part with Martin, according to John Krawczynski of The Associated Press. The 32-year-old shooting guard is Minnesota’s leading scorer this season at 20.2 points per game.
I like martin going to the mavs but will this happen? Saunders seems like he doesn’t want to give him up but his team is rebuilding and dallas wants more veterans so if I was the mavs I would go after him and probably give a draft pick to the wolves