Just from looking at the thumbnail, one thing is immediately clear about Kelan Martin: he’s not one of those young rookies, he’s one of those OLD rookies. Okay, fine, the thumbnail doesn’t expressly show the fact that he’s a rookie, but that’s a bit of context you should already now. It does definitely show that he’s old, possibly as old as 32 or 33.
Turns out, after further research, he’s “only” 24. Could’ve fooled me, though.
I actually did have some experience with Martin prior to this game; he showed up in a preseason game versus the Bucks (preseason is the time when I actually get to watch full Bucks games) and took a lot of shots without a whole ton of success. That lack of success seems to have carried over into the beginning of his NBA career; he missed his first 11 threes prior to tonight. He still hasn’t recorded an assist, steal, or block, but with these raw rookies (though since he’s 24 he should be at least a little more polished, right?) you have to take things as they come.
Tonight, he came all over the place with a spectacular 14-point, 6-bucket performance. Considering his 8-point, 4-bucket career up until this point, this is quite the game. And it’s not like he was just scoring garbage buckets in garbage time, no, he was actively contributing to a Timberwolves win with his smooth threes and wonky midrange floaters. Timberwolves fans may not look fondly on the Kevin Martin era of Minnesota basketball, but the similarly-named Kelan Martin era (currently at 1 game long) is happening whether they want it to or not.