Goodbye, Jamal Crawford

Former Phoenix Suns guard and three-time Sixth Man of the Year award winner Jamal Crawford officially announced the end of his long career Monday, capping an NBA tenure in which he played for nine teams.

Crawford’s 64 games as a Sun during the 2018/2019 season brought some fun to an otherwise miserable campaign that saw the team finish 19-63 and finish Igor Kokoskov’s time as head coach after just a year. He became one of only six Suns to score 50 points in a game. He last played in an NBA contest in August 2020, for the Brooklyn Nets.

“‘Goodbye to the game, all the spoils the adrenaline rush.’ Thank you basketball, I owe you everything,” Crawford wrote in a Tweet.

Crawford joined the Suns in October 2018, signing a veteran minimum contract at the age of 38. He didn’t have what you could really call a “good” season for Phoenix, averaging just under 8 points in about 19 minutes per game off the bench, and shooting under 40% from the field.

But on April 9, 2019, the final game of the Suns’ season, the 39 year-old scored 51 points in a loss to the Mavericks. The ageless wonder nailed seven three pointers as part of an 18/30 shooting day, and got Suns fans cheering a little bit even as a truly hard to stomach season came to an end.

Relive JCrossover’s final big game here!

Crawford’s career began with the Chicago Bulls, where he was sent as part of a draft day trade after beng selected 8th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers out of the University of Michigan.

He was a starter throughout most of his 20s in Chicago and with the New York Knicks, but is better remembered as an elite bench scorer for the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers. Crawford stayed relevant through the years despite his defensive shortcomings with his ability to go get buckets in isolation without needing plays run for him, which isn’t always good basketball but which every coach knows a team needs sometimes.

After leaving the Suns he signed a COVID-substitution contract with Nets, but appeared in only one game for the team in the COVID isolation bubble during the 2020 season, scoring 5 points in 6 minutes.

He retires with a career line of 14.6 points, 3.4 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per game.