How J. Cole helped Caleb Martin land with the Miami Heat - ESPN

MIAMI — Even during this, the best and most important stretch of basketball he's played in his life, Caleb Martin's thoughts regularly revert back to the workout that forever changed the trajectory of his career.

«I think about that day all the time,» the Miami Heat forward said.

It was late summer 2021. With a collective eye on the upcoming season, and the need for developing a role-playing forward to help stretch the floor offensively while giving tough, physical minutes defensively, the Heat hastily put together a workout for Martin.

Although they had been eyeing the undrafted then-free agent for some time, Miami's decision-makers were spurred to finally bring Martin in, thanks to a suggestion from an unlikely source — Grammy Award-winning rapper J. Cole.

«We have a lot of relationships across the board,» Heat assistant coach Caron Butler, who has known J. Cole since 2010, told ESPN. «As a former player, I used to always pride myself on building relationships before it was a thing.»

While Butler and J. Cole are represented by the same agency now, their friendship originally formed when the rapper dropped his song «The Autograph» on his critically-acclaimed 2010 mixtape «Friday Night Lights.»

At that time, Butler was near the end of a five-year run with the Washington Wizards, one of nine teams the former first-round pick played for in his 14-year career.

During one verse on «The Autograph,» J. Cole says in his rhythmic, staccato style delivery: «Caron Butler, I'm a Wizard if ya doesn't know / It's Young Simba, yeah, I'm ballin' till the buzzer blow.»

The shout-out humbled Butler then.

More humbling now? Seeing the way the rapper looked out for someone whose grind he had long been paying attention to.

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