Brooklyn Nets: Tyrese Martin Is Proving His Value off the Bench

Tyrese Martin deserves plaudits for his second half of the season, as the Brooklyn Nets swingman has solidified himself as a vital rotation piece of Jordi Fernández’s second unit.

Martin scored 19 points off the bench in the Nets’ last game, on Thursday against the Chicago Bulls. He went 5-for-8 from three, marking the second time that Martin made five or more threes in a game, as well as the fourth time he’d reached double figures in March.

Martin scored 23, 17 and 14 points against the Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively. Fernández praised Martin following the Warriors game.

“He’s a true pro,” the Brooklyn bench boss said. “I play him off the ball, he plays well. Play him at the point guard, he does his best, and he’s getting better. Defensively, he’s on point. He knows coverages, he knows everything.”

The 42-year-old also mentioned that Martin had “really helped” the Nets in their win against the Lakers. He comes up with small, but important plays that accrue over the course of a game, and he is starting to produce fairly consistently from deep. The former UConn man has also already had a standout moment this season, when he dropped 30 points in a win against the Phoenix Suns.

Martin initially joined the Nets on an Exhibit 10 contract for training camp, and was then the team’s last two-way at the time. The 26-year-old played sparingly for the first 25 games of the season, but he started cracking the Brooklyn rotation around mid-December and never looked back.

Martin was best known for playing at UConn in college after transferring in from Rhode Island. He was the No. 51 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, which sent him to the Atlanta Hawks where he spent most of his rookie season in the G League. In his second season as a pro, Martin signed a training camp contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves — like the E-10 with the Nets — but he didn’t make the team’s roster and spent his entire season in the G League.

Brooklyn officially converted Martin’s two-way deal to a multi-year standard contract on Feb. 20. Coincidentally, that was done as part of a transaction which signed Killian Hayes to a 10-day contract. Hayes played with Martin in training camp, but was ineligible for a two-way due to time already spent in the league — even though the Nets could’ve maybe used another ballhandler.

Up next, Martin and the Nets host the Boston Celtics at home on Saturday evening. Martin didn’t play in his team’s first game against the Celtics, and he then scored six points in 17 minutes in the teams’ second game. Brooklyn will be without Dariq Whitehead, Trendon Watford, Cam Thomas, De'Anthony Melton, Tosan Evbuomwan, Tyson Etienne, Noah Clowney and Nic Claxton.

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