The average length of an NBA career is 4.5 years, and a lot of players barely last for more than a couple of years in the league. Making it to the very highest level is hard enough as it is, but carving out a career of longer than 9-10 years is something only the very best manage. Not every player can be a superstar but to even be a consistent role player in the league requires skill, dedication, and supreme talent. Perhaps nobody is a better example of this than Jamal Crawford.
J-Crossover, as he was fondly called, managed a 20-year career in the NBA, practically owning the 6th man role. He was awarded the NBA 6th Man Of The Year award on three different occasions and had 16 seasons of averaging over 12 points per game, and 11 seasons of averaging over 15 points per game. Crawford was an instrumental piece on various teams and that’s why perhaps every NBA fan felt a twinge of sadness when he finally announced his retirement on Monday.
“ Goodbye to the game, all the spoils the adrenaline rush.”
Thank you basketball, I owe you everything …..✌🏾 pic.twitter.com/PpKYjoqz9p
— 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) March 21, 2022
Crawford became the oldest player to score 50 points in a game during the 2018-19 season for the Phoenix Suns but was eventually let go of by the organization. He managed to convince the Nets to give him an opportunity in 2020 but that too didn’t work out, and he has been a free agent since then.
However, it seems that Crawford is finally ready to call it quits on what has been an incredibly impressive NBA career, and at the age of 42, that makes sense. Following the number of 10-day contracts that were handed out after the recent Covid-19 spike, if he still can’t get one, then the time to hang it up is probably now. Even if he’s no longer playing, NBA fans will always remember Crawford for his incredible handles and for the fact that he was a walking bucket.
