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Pacers forward Kelan Martin’s return to the Hoosier state means a return to his basketball roots
Kelan Martin slams home a dunk at Hinkle Fieldhouse during his senior season in 2018. (Courtesy: Butler Athletics)

Pacers forward Kelan Martin’s return to the Hoosier state means a return to his basketball roots

INDIANAPOLIS (BVM) — Kelan Martin, a 6-foot-5 forward, didn’t burst onto the Kentucky high school basketball scene until his senior season at Ballard High School in 2013-2014. In his breakout year, Martin averaged 23 points and 8.9 rebounds per game at the Louisville area high school. 

Despite being the No. 1 Kentucky high school recruit his senior season, Martin played his AAU basketball with a top program in Indiana, the Indiana Elite. Indiana Elite helped produce the NBA talents of Mason and Marshall Plumlee, Cody and Tyler Zeller, as well as the college talents of Quentin Goodin (Xavier), Kyle Guy (Virginia) and C.J. Fredrick (Iowa). Martin along with his former high school teammate and future Louisville Cardinal, Quentin Snider, both played for the Indiana based AAU team. 

Martin’s time on Indiana Elite was only the beginning of his stint in the Hoosier state as he committed to Butler University in Indianapolis and was able to make an immediate impact off the bench during his freshman season in 2014. 

Martin started to find some consistency towards the end of his sophomore season at the Big East school. While he only started 14 games under Chris Holtmann,13 of those starts came in the last 14 games of the season. By the end of his sophomore campaign, Martin was second on the team in scoring averaging 15.7 points per game, putting him only behind junior guard Kellen Dunham. Butler’s season came to an end against Virginia in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

This consistency rolled over to his junior season in 2016-2017. Martin showed just how dominant he could be as he led Butler in both scoring and rebounding with 16 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. 

His season highlight came when he scored 28 points in the Bulldogs win over crossstate rival Indiana in the Crossroads Classic. The power forward started 21 of 34 games during his junior season, and averaged around 28.7 minutes per game, helping the Bulldogs reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. 

However, it was Martin’s senior season that solidified his spot in the hearts of Butler faithful around the country. The star forward averaged 21.2 points per game during his senior season which made him the second leading scorer in the Big East. He also had multiple 30-point games including a 34-point performance against Big East rival Xavier. 

Individually, Martin was a unanimous AllBig East selection, an AP honorable mention All-American and a finalist for the Julius Erving award after his senior year despite the Bulldogs again exiting the NCAA Tournament in the second round.

After his decorated 2018 season, Martin set his sights on the NBA and worked out for numerous teams before the ensuing NBA Draft. However, after going undrafted, Martin did not let his story end there. He instead went overseas and played for MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in the German Basketball Bundesliga. 

In his only season on the German team, Martin averaged 13.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Martin took part in the Champions League basketball tournament the most competitive European basketball tournament during his time in Germany and averaged 14.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game throughout the competition. 

After a first professional season abroad, Martin worked out and signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2019 and averaged 6.5 points off the bench before returning to the Hoosier state in 2020 where he averaged 4.5 points per game for the Indiana Pacers. 

Martin’s return to familiar Indianapolis means he has joined forces with two former Big East stars in Edmond Sumner and Doug McDermott as the Pacers push to improve in the Eastern Conference during the 2021-2022 season.