It is a new team but the same old story for Jae Crowder.
Speaking this week after his team, the Milwaukee Bucks, got upset in the first round by the eighth-seeded Miami Heat, Crowder went off about his lack of playing time.
“I’ve never been in a situation like that,” Crowder told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Eleven years. Check my résumé. I’ve been playing. I’ve always been playing. I’m very confused as to why I was brought here. I don’t know my purpose here and why I was brought here.”
The veteran combo forward Crowder, 32, was acquired by the Bucks at the February trade deadline. That came after he had sat out the entire season to that point with the Phoenix Suns in disagreement with Phoenix’s decision to demote him from the starting lineup.
Crowder ended up playing extremely sparingly in his two months with the Bucks, seeing just 18.9 minutes per game for them in the regular season. That dwindled even further in the postseason as Crowder got a mere 10.2 minutes per game during the series against the Heat (including one DNP). That was despite Giannis Antetokounmpo missing multiple games in the series, thus opening up playing time at the forward spot.
An alum of Marquette University, Crowder’s move to Milwaukee was supposed to be a triumphant homecoming of sorts for him. But now Crowder, who is an unrestricted free agent this summer, will almost certainly be leaving for a new team (his third in less than a year).
