Martin Twins Sign With Charlotte Hornets, Continue Storybook Careers
The former Mountain West stars will play together in Charlotte
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The Martin twins will play together in Charlotte
Sixty-two miles.
That’s the distance between Mocksville, North Carolina, and the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.
With news Wednesday that Cody Martin and Caleb Martin have signed contracts with the Charlotte Hornets, the Martin twins have both found their new home just an hour south of where their basketball careers began.
This story is something that so many brothers dream about but very, very few have accomplished.
The likelihood of you and your twin brother playing four years of D-I basketball together, starting game after game in the same lineup, compiling a cabinet full of collegiate accolades, and then signing to the same NBA team just an hour south of your hometown?
That’s absurd.
Can you imagine the number of times Caleb and Cody dreamed about playing in the NBA together growing up?
It’s the distant hope for many.
But it’s now the reality for Caleb and Cody.
https://twitter.com/Calebmartin14/status/1156632101216763904?s=20
Cody was taken 36th overall in June’s draft. He brings point guard skills and a 6-6 frame to the next level along with strong defensive instincts and a developing offensive repertoire.
Caleb went undrafted but was quickly rumored to join Cody in Charlotte in the days following the NBA Draft. His offensive arsenal is rooted in dribble drives and jumpers in isolation, using an unorthodox shooting motion to quickly square up over defenders.
The former top 70 recruits transferred to Nevada following two seasons with North Carolina State, guiding the Wolf Pack to a pair of 29-win seasons and NCAA Tournament appearances. Caleb was the Mountain West Player of the Year in ’17-18 while Cody won Defensive Player of the Year the same season.
Nevada advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in Caleb and Cody’s junior season, coming back from 14 down to beat Texas in an overtime thriller and then mounted a where-were-you-when-you-saw-it upset of No. 2 seed Cincinnati after trailing by 22 points with under 11 minutes to go in regulation.
The tournament run ended the following Thursday against Loyola Chicago, but the twins were already beloved by the college basketball world.
Nevada spent almost the entirety of the 2018-19 season ranked in the AP Top 10. The Wolf Pack’s run ended with a first round loss to Florida this time, wrapping the storied college careers of the Martin brothers.
Even despite the loss, the twins led Nevada to 58 wins over the course of two seasons in Reno, one of just 12 teams nationally to record that many victories over the same span.
Now the book opens to its next chapter where the twins look to make an impact at the professional level.
Twin brothers playing for their hometown NBA team. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Eli Boettger is the lead basketball writer at Mountain West Wire. He’s covered Mountain West basketball since 2015 and his work has been featured on Bleacher Report, NBC Sports, SB Nation, Yahoo Sports, MSN, and other platforms. Boettger is a current USBWA member.