Jae Crowder Met With Mixed Reaction From Suns Fans in First Game Back
PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns welcomed the Milwaukee Bucks to the Footprint Center ahead of a tasty matchup, for a few different reasons.
Heading into tonight, the Bucks had won their previous 20-of-22 games while owning the league's best record at 49-19. They've been clicking on all cylinders, providing a strong test for the Suns to measure themselves - albeit without Kevin Durant - against one of the hottest teams in the league as the regular season begins to wind down.
The most intriguing factor resides within the arrival of Jae Crowder, a former Suns player who helped Phoenix reach some new heights in recent years before ending his tenure with the team by sitting out until he was eventually traded at the deadline.
Crowder's departure was met with mostly negative reaction by the fan base, so his first game back in the Footprint Center provided opportunity for fans in attendance to make their voices heard.
During the first few minutes of the game, Phoenix showed a short tribute video of Crowder on the jumbotron during a timeout. Crowder was met with a mixed reaction:
It was an overall classy move by the organization to show the video despite the ugly divorce between the two sides.
A handful of current Suns players were vocal about missing Crowder on the bench, and he did in fact help Phoenix reach the 2021 NBA Finals before assisting in the Suns' franchise record 64 wins last season.
