Free-agent shooting guard Jamal Crawford isn't necessarily looking to join a championship contender at the eve of training camp, noting once again that he won't just sign a deal for the sake of being back in the NBA, but rather looking for a good fit.
“There is interest,” Crawford told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “I could just sign a deal to sign a deal. I’m just waiting for the situation where I think I can help where I fit well. I don’t want to sign something just to sign it.”
“I’m not saying ‘championship or bust.’ A team on the rise makes sense. I bring a specific skill set. So, a team that needs me instead of just, ‘Oh, that can work.’ I feel like I just went through that last season and I don’t want to do that again.”
Crawford's last year with the Minnesota Timberwolves was a relative bust, as he was held a prisoner in Tom Thibodeau's starter-heavy rotation, seeing the least amount of minutes on the floor since his rookie year in the league.
Now an 18-year veteran, Crawford has been left out of the equation, despite relative interest from the Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and the defending champion Golden State Warriors, who debated signing him instead of Nick Young last season.
“If you would have asked before if I thought it would go this long, I’d say no, ” said Crawford. “But, I guess it’s kind of a special circumstance with the way the league is going, the market and different things of that nature. But I’m fine. I’m actually really, really good.”
“I know I will be somewhere at some point. It will work out the way it’s supposed to. That’s the part where I’m like, ‘Hey, at least you get more time with your family right now.’ That part is a plus.”
Crawford might be 38, but his body would say otherwise, proving to be an iron man of sorts after playing 79, 82, and 80 games during his past three seasons — an anomaly for players in that age range.
Boasting a 15-points-per-game career clip, it's surely only a matter of time before a front office comes calling, requesting his services as the most decorated sixth man in NBA history.
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