How closely is Heat’s Caleb Martin following his twin? His Twitter account says it all

Caleb Martin’s Twitter account has turned into a fan account for his twin brother Cody Martin.

This is the longest stretch that the set of 26-year-old twins have been away from each other in their lives. Caleb is signed to a two-way contract with the Miami Heat, and Cody is signed to a standard contract with the Charlotte Hornets.

But Caleb is still following his brother very closely, and using his Twitter account to compliment Cody’s play in real time and retweet others doing the same. There’s the “Yeaaaa Cody!” tweet that Caleb posted during the Hornets’ win over the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, and there are also multiple retweets of others recently posting highlight videos involving Cody.

“Any time I can bring attention to my brother or any of my friends, I’ll always shed light on that if they’re playing well,” Caleb said in advance of the Heat’s matchup against the Orlando Magic on Monday night at FTX Arena. “Always.”

There’s also the fact that Caleb feels a connection with the Hornets since he spent the past two seasons with Charlotte and also grew up in North Carolina.

“Just being able to see him become his own player and him naturally just get aggressive and just find his niche while he’s by himself, it has been fun to watch already,” Caleb said. “Obviously, that’s my former team and I got homies and stuff on the other team. So I like to watch them play well.”

Before Caleb was waived by the Hornets in August and went on to sign a two-way deal with the Heat, he had rarely been away from Cody. They spent their entire college careers together and were roommates as Hornets teammates for the past two seasons.

Now, they’re forced to use technology to stay in touch.

“We’re running up the minutes on FaceTime. But it has actually been cool,” Caleb said with a grin. “We can feel ourselves just growing into our own people and stuff like that. Just learning how to do things without each other. I don’t know how many lunches and stuff I’ve eaten by myself now for the first time. So just getting used to stuff like that. But it has been a fine transition.”

Caleb played in one of the Heat’s first two games, entering Thursday’s season-opening blowout win over the Milwaukee Bucks to record five points, one rebound and two steals in eighth fourth-quarter minutes as coach Erik Spoelstra emptied the bench because of the lopsided score.

Cody is a regular in the Hornets’ rotation, playing in each of the first three games. He has averaged 10.7 points on 57.1 percent shooting, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals off the bench during that three-game span.

“We talk after every game, no matter what time it is,” Caleb said. “Even if they have to catch their plane and I talk to him at 1 or 2 in the morning, we always catch up after the game. Today [Monday] we’ll talk a little bit before and then we’ll talk again afterward. So we communicate every day.”

But their split has presented a challenge for their mother, who is now forced to follow three teams closely: Caleb with the Heat, Cody with the Hornets and their brother Raheem Martin, who is a graduate assistant on Arkansas’ coaching staff.

It helps that Caleb’s Heat and Cody’s Hornets are scheduled to face off four times during the regular season, with the first game coming Friday at FTX Arena. Caleb and Cody also faced off once in the preseason.

Both Caleb and Cody play in different games Monday night.

“She’s got [NBA] League Pass. Trust and believe, she got the password,” Caleb said of his mother. “So she’s just tuning into all the games at the same time. She’ll be watching both of us tonight.”

And while Cody is not as active as his twin brother on Twitter, he’s just as invested in following the Heat as Caleb is with the Hornets.

“He’s tuning into every game,” Caleb said. “Even if like we both play at the same time, I’ll go right to my phone after the game to tune in to see how he played. Or my mom will give me updates on Cody.”

A CULTURE FIT

P.J. Tucker’s toughness is already impressing his new Heat teammates and coaches.

Tucker, 36, slipped on a wet spot and turned his right ankle late in the first half of Saturday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers. The veteran forward grabbed his ankle immediately and ran around with a slight limp for the rest of the night, but he fought through the pain to play 36 minutes against the Pacers.

“P.J. is an absolute warrior,” Spoelstra said Saturday. “I mean, I don’t even want to ask the trainers how hurt he is and I know that there was a wet spot on the floor. He’s just so competitive. His voice, his drive, all that stuff. His will, he’s a force of nature defensively and he just helps everybody.”

Tucker isn’t on the Heat’s injury report for Monday’s game.

INJURY REPORT

Heat guard Kyle Lowry will start and play Monday after missing Saturday’s loss to the Pacers because of a sprained ankle.

The only Heat player who is unavailable is Victor Oladipo, who remains out as he continues to recover from May knee surgery.

The Magic have ruled out Michael Carter-Williams, Markelle Fultz, Jonathan Isaac, E’Twaun Moore and Chuma Okeke.