How this week’s Heat-Hornets matchups have brought Caleb Martin’s family together in Miami

When the NBA schedule was released in August, this was a week Miami Heat forward Caleb Martin and his family had circled.

That’s because Caleb was scheduled to face his twin brother Cody Martin twice in a span of three days in Miami, with Caleb’s Heat and Cody’s Charlotte Hornets closing their set of consecutive games against each other on Saturday night at FTX Arena. The Heat defeated the Hornets in Miami on Thursday.

But it didn’t go as planned, with Cody not making the trip to Miami because of an injury that has limited him to just one minute of action so far this season. Instead, Cody underwent an arthroscopic procedure in his left knee on Friday and will be re-evaluated in four weeks.

“It’s tough on him, man,” Caleb, 27, said of his brother’s situation. “He’s obviously like me in terms of competing and wanting to be out there and contributing. It’s hard for him to need to sit out and watch other guys play.”

But their mother still traveled to Miami this week as originally planned when the schedule was released. Cody’s absence, while unfortunate, didn’t deter her and a few friends of the family from making the trip to spend time with Caleb and also attend both Heat-Hornets games.

“It was no fun and he was pretty upset,” their mother, Jenny Bennett, said of Cody missing the opportunity to reunite with his family in Miami. “Probably more about not seeing his brother than me.”

That’s probably because Cody sees his mother often since she lives just about 90 minutes away from Charlotte. Jenny, who raised the Martin twins and their older brother Raheem Martin in North Carolina, attends most Hornets home games.

Jenny was also once able to attend most of Caleb’s home games when he was a member of the Hornets for the first two seasons of his NBA career. But Charlotte waived Caleb prior to the start of the 2021-22 season.

After Caleb and Cody spent their entire college careers together and then were roommates as Hornets teammates for the first two seasons of their NBA careers, they were forced to spend an extended stretch away from each other for the first time in their lives when Caleb signed with the Heat in September 2021.

“It was really hard with him moving away and trying to make that adjustment and trying to visit and be around as much as possible,” Jenny said when asked about Caleb’s move to Miami. “But kind of giving him his space to grow and develop into his own person, his own player. Just broadening himself more. It’s been great. Of course, we miss him tremendously. But I actually think it’s been really good for him and Cody.”

While apart, both Caleb and Cody put together career-best years last season and earned the biggest contracts of their NBA careers this past summer. Caleb re-signed with the Heat on a three-year deal worth $20.4 million and Cody re-signed with the Hornets on a four-year deal worth $31.4 million as free agents.

“Playing them, it always brings it back full circle because it brings it back to where it started,” Caleb said of games against the Hornets, his former team. “So a lot of times, it’s hard not to think that I was just there and it also just shows you how fast time goes by.”

Jenny is able to make it to more Hornets games than Heat games because she lives so close to Charlotte. But she makes an effort to watch every one of Caleb’s games.

“If it’s a home game for Cody, we’re in Charlotte,” Jenny said. “So I have Caleb’s game pulled up on my phone watching his game on my phone while we’re watching Cody’s in person. If they’re on TV, one is on TV and one is on my computer or split screen. We’re doing whatever we can to make sure we’re watching both games.”

Does Jenny ever root for one brother over the other?

“She better not let us hear it if she does,” Caleb said with a smile. “I think she got some shirts and stuff that got both of us on it. But then we’ll be arguing who’s on the front and who’s on the back. So we always give her a hard time. But she roots for both of us. She might just be rooting for me now because Cody’s not playing.”

But even with Cody not able to play, Jenny’s plan was to attend Saturday’s Heat-Hornets game in neutral colors.

“I go neutral. I can’t wear purple, I can’t wear teal, I can’t wear red,” Jenny said. “So I have to kind of go neutral and just cheer for them to play well.”

All while spending some much-needed quality time with Caleb in Miami this week.

“It’s just great to be able to spend time together in a different place, a different city,” Jenny said. “Being able to come and visit Caleb because we don’t get to see him as often because Cody is closer to where we live. It’s just great being together and spending family time. That’s big for us.”

ELECTION DAY WORK

The Heat gave its employees Election Day off on Tuesday, but the organization’s Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Michael McCullough was busy.

McCullough spent Tuesday handling poll worker duties at Temple Israel of Greater Miami. He arrived just before sunrise and finished just after sunset.

McCullough’s role was poll worker deputy, which is tasked with greeting voters and making sure they have their IDs as they approach the polling place while also making sure there’s no campaigning happening to close to the voting location.

“It’s really fascinated how much I enjoyed it,” McCullough said. “It might just be my personality. But I really do enjoy being on the inside of the process and seeing really how dedicated all these volunteers are. Everybody that goes there, for the most part, is a volunteer. Folks really take it seriously. They understand the importance of what they’re doing and the position of how this fits in our democracy.”

HARDAWAY HONORED

With former All-Star guard Tim Hardaway enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September, the Heat brought Hardaway to the team’s arena for a halftime ceremony on Saturday.

Hardaway’s No. 10 jersey was retired by the Heat on Oct. 28, 2009 and that banner hanging in the arena will now include his Hall of Fame induction.

INJURY REPORT

The Heat was without Tyler Herro (left ankle sprain), Victor Oladipo (left knee tendinosis), Dru Smith (G League assignment) and Omer Yurtseven (left ankle impingement) for Saturday’s game against the Hornets.

Dewayne Dedmon (left foot plantar fasciitis), who was listed as questionable, was available for Miami.

On the other side, the Hornets got star guard LaMelo Ball back on Saturday. Ball missed the first 13 games of the season because of a sprained left ankle.

But the Hornets were without Gordon Hayward (left shoulder surgery), Dennis Smith Jr. (sprained left ankle) and Martin (left knee procedure) against the Heat.