Dallas-based trainer Tim Martin has joined the San Antonio Spurs as an assistant coach.
SAN ANTONIO — Editor’s note: The video published above is an award-winning WFAA Original from 2022.
A Dallas-based trainer, who WFAA profiled in 2022, has been hired as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs announced a flurry of coaching hires, among them Tim Martin, whose life story is nothing short of awe-inspiring. WFAA’s Jonah Javad chronicled how Martin went from being homeless to becoming a world-renowned skills trainer.
“It’s crazy because his work ethic is second to none and I think that’s why we get along so well,” praised Philadelphia 76ers rising star Tyrese Maxey.
Maxey has trained with Martin since he was a freshman at South Garland High School. Martin also trained French superstar Victor Wembanyama, before Spurs big man came to Texas. That familiarity likely was a feather in the cap for Martin.
Martin was born in Arlington but spent most of his childhood traveling around Texas and the southwest with his mother.
“Every time the rent was due, we were moving,” Martin told WFAA.
He attended 11 schools over 12 years from elementary through high school.
Martin played high school ball in New Mexico and received a Division I offer to Pepperdine but had to attend junior college due to poor grades. Then an ankle injury in junior college put an abrupt end to his D1 hopes.
Martin fell on tough times and slept in the back seat of his car for seven months. He would take showers in a nearby recreation center and shave in the sink. His car even got repossessed at one point.
In his darkest hour, a friend took him in and he slept on a “little brown loveseat” in an apartment for two years.
Over time, he grew his bank account and his roster of players to train.
Martin grew his clientele in Dallas with many of the game’s up-and-comers, with many of his clients getting drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft.
Martin met Wemby during the COVID-19 pandemic, but couldn’t officially train in person until April 2021. Martin made nearly half a dozen trips to France from 2021 to 2023. Then, the Spurs drafted Wemby with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft.
And now, Martin is his coach in San Antonio. Martin joins a Spurs coaching staff moving into a new era under head coach Mitch Johnson, who has taken over for Gregg Popovich after suffering a stroke and moving to a team president role.