Jamal Crawford Compares Brandon Roy to Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, and Kobe Bryant

Jamal Crawford gave Brandon Roy his flowers following the latter's nomination for the 2026 Basketball Hall of Fame ballot on Wednesday.

Crawford took it a step further and explained they should see Roy in after a legendary, but truncated, career spent on the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves: In the same conversation as Dwyane Wade, Joe Johnson, and the late, great Kobe Bryant, had injuries not cut his career short on two different occasions.

"I mean, nobody could speed up his game. He was always, you know, thinking on the court was always clutch, was always just a great player, and, you know, a great person knowing him since he was, you know, 15 years old to present day, watching his growth and evolution, he's, obviously a Portland legend, a Seattle legend, and people give him his respect and his flowers, and they're so deserved. So to see him on the ballot was exciting. It's just, it's really, really cool," Crawford told RG.

"He was at the top of his game. You look at him D-Wade, Joe Johnson, Kobe Bryant, guys like that were right there. He was incredible and had no flaws. He was flawless. The game was just at its peak. And he was such a good player and such a smart player. So, as I said, he was one of the best, for sure."

Brandon Roy Was That Guy When He Was Healthy

Crawford didn't offer a hot take here. This was one of the truest hoopers in the game, acknowledging the greatness of a player who was a 23/5/5 guy on a 48/38/82 shooting slash who received MVP votes back in 2008-2009.

Roy was the Kobe to LaMarcus Aldridge's Shaq, while Steve Blake and Rudi Fernandez flanked him on the perimeter. That team won 54 games, but had their run cut short by Yao Ming's Houston Rockets in one of the last great postseason series the Chinese legend ever had.

Roy is one of the game's all-time greatest what-ifs, having played just five seasons in Portland during his injury-affected prime. It's good to know that the game's all-time greats have not forgotten him.

Not only did Crawford give Roy his due, but so did one of the game's current greats, and, when it's all said and done, who'll be revered as perhaps the greatest pure scorer in NBA history, Kevin Durant.

“A player whose career was cut short by injuries, but every time I saw him on the court, he was one of the toughest players to stop of all time,” said Durant.

Durant hit the nail on the head. The headline is Roy's injuries, but the buried lede was how good he was despite his health.