Three Teams Who Could Consider Trading For Jae Crowder
While they went 64-18 during the 2021-22 season, setting a new franchise record for wins in a single season, the Phoenix Suns seem to be very open to the idea of moving parts of their championship contending roster in order to improve further.
On Monday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst stated that the Suns are open to moving on from veteran Jae Crowder and that they are actively in trade negotiations.
Crowder, 32, has started in 109 of the 127 regular season games he has played with the Suns over the last two seasons and has been a key part of their championship-esce roster.
The exact reason for either Crowder wanting to be traded and/or the Suns wanting to move on from him is unknown at this time, but the Suns are willing to make moves and spend more money in order to potentially win a championship.
Being in the final year of his contract, Crowder seems like the most likely candidate to be on the move, especially since Windhorst reported that the Suns are actively negotiating a contract extension with forward Cameron Johnson as well.
With Jae Crowder on the trade block ahead of the season, several playoff-caliber or playoff-hopeful teams could look to the veteran for some more experienced depth out on the wing.
Here are three teams that could consider trading for the veteran within the next couple of weeks.
Boston Celtics
Coming off their run to the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics enter the 2022-23 season as the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. They added some key, notable talents this offseason in Malcolm Brogdon and Danilo Gallinari, but Gallinari is going to be out indefinitely after suffering a torn ACL while playing for the Italian national team this summer.
With Gallinari out, the Celtics are suddenly thin at either forward position, which is why targeting Jae Crowder makes a lot of sense. Not to mention, he played with the Celtics from 2014-2017, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals with Boston in 2017.
Depth is what ultimately proved to be the downfall of the Celtics last season and if they can add an experienced player like Crowder who has been to the NBA Finals before, they would be in an even better position than they currently find themselves in.
The question here though is what exactly would the Celtics have to surrender in order to acquire Crowder?
Boston has made it clear that they are not afraid to spend money in order to contend for a championship either, which is why increasing their tax bill would not be a problem. Should the Celtics be on the receiving end of a Jae Crowder trade though, they would likely be at least one of two other teams involved with the Suns, meaning that someone like Derrick White, Grant Williams or Payton Pritchard would likely have to be on the move with a future second-round pick.
In terms of production and depth though, Crowder is exactly the kind of player the Celtics need and were missing in the NBA Finals.
New York Knicks
The New York Knicks are nowhere close to being a playoff contending team, which is likely why Jae Crowder would not be open to a trade here.
However, the Knicks believe internally that they have what it takes to get to the playoffs and be competitive, which is why a defensive-minded veteran on the open market is someone that could intrigue them.
A trade between the Knicks and Suns involving Crowder could work financially, especially since Cam Reddish is a player that may have had enough of New York. The Knciks traded for Reddish last season and after barely utilizing him, the young wing could very much open a change of scenery.
As for the Suns, they will likely look to move Crowder with the intention of getting back another “win-now” type of talent like Bojan Bogdanovic from the Utah Jazz, but Cam Reddish is only 23-years-old and has shown flashes of his two-way potential early on in his career.
Whether it is in Phoenix or somewhere else, Reddish can contribute right now and be a key scoring talent coming off-the-bench. Making $5.9 million in the final year of his contract, Reddish can be moved for Crowder’s salary, which is why this trade makes sense financially.
However, it is unlikely that the Suns would view this move as a trade that brings them more value in terms of contending for a championship.
Miami Heat
If there is one team at the top of Jae Crowder’s wish list of teams he would like to be traded to, it would be the Miami Heat.
Nobody in the league would be shocked if Crowder ended up being dealt to the Heat for two reasons. First of all, Pat Riley is always looking for ways to improve his team’s championship outlook and second, Crowder really did enjoy his time with the Heat in 2020.
Reaching the NBA Finals with them in the NBA Bubble, Crowder already has chemistry and relationships with a vast majority of the Heat’s roster and he is exactly the kind of player they need with P.J. Tucker going to the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason.
The Heat have a hole to fill at the power forward position and right now, they do not have anyone on their roster that can fill this position with ease. Jimmy Butler or Caleb Martin could be asked to slide over from the small forward spot, but then the Heat will be giving up size and strength defensively.
It makes a lot of sense for the Heat to add a true power forward before the start of the new season and with Crowder being available, it makes the most sense for them to look to bring him back.
Given that they have virtually no cap space though and are already paying taxes for the roster they have, the Heat may have a hard time finding a way to acquire Crowder. Assuming they do not deal Tyler Herro, Gabe Vincent or Max Strus, Miami would likely have to part ways with either Duncan Robinson and/or rookie Nikola Jovic in order to make this trade work from a financial perspective.
Robinson has been rumored to be available in Miami, so it is possible that they could look to move the sharpshooter for Jae Crowder.
