In late November against the Denver Nuggets, the Miami Heat were down three players: Jimmy Butler (tailbone), Tyler Herro (illness) and Markieff Morris (neck), who got hurt in the infamous Nikola Jokic incident earlier that month in Denver.
Entrusted by his teammates and, most importantly, head coach Erik Spoelstra — Heat wing Caleb Martin, who they signed to a two-way contract mere months earlier, was thrusted into the starting lineup in lieu of Butler.
Martin had not have played more than 26 minutes in any of his first 17 games with Miami, averaging 5.