The Georges Niang trade was a move that should make the Utah Jazz happy, but the only problem is that now, they have too many players on the roster at 16. While many will point to the obvious move of waiving Kevin Love, the Jazz can go into the season with 14 players, which could pave the way for another player to get the axe: KJ Martin.
Martin has a pretty team-friendly deal. While he’s only owed $8 million for the 2025-26 season, his contract is also completely nonguaranteed and his guarantee date isn’t until January 10. The sad part about it is that Martin is a pretty solid player with what he brings to the table.
He’s a rim-running big man who tried hard, plays solid defense, and is a lob threat who the Jazz got for pretty much nothing. That’s a pretty good skillset for someone whose contract is only at $8 million. There’s so much appeal in Martin that it’s possible that Utah won’t even have to cut him because there should be a trade market for players like him.
It’s not like Utah has to save money, but it feels like even though the team waiving Love is a matter of when, not if, it doesn’t feel like Martin has much of a place on the team.
Martin likely wasn’t getting time anyway