Jamal Crawford spent the last five seasons with the LA Clippers, and he was none too pleased about being dealt unceremoniously this offseason.
In an interview Tuesday with Alex Kennedy on “The HoopsHype Podcast,” the former Sixth Man of the Year voiced his disappointment over being traded.
“I spent five years with the Clippers,” said Crawford. “For me, in my 17-year career, that was the longest I had been in one place. I’ve played more games for the Clippers than I have for any other team in the NBA. So, for me, that was kind of home. When I re-signed there last summer, it was a three-year deal and I thought, ‘Okay, I can continue to further my career here and I plan on being here for all of those years.’
“You start to think about really cool things like, ‘Well, if I’m with this team for eight or nine years and we have a lot of success, maybe my jersey could be hanging up there [retired]?,'” he continued. “I mean, like I said, this was my home. You start thinking of all those things and then, all of a sudden, things change in the blink of an eye and you’re dealing with things you didn’t see coming. You’re in shock, you’re angry, you’re upset, you’re hurt.”
After months of battling trade rumors, something he even admitted at the time was bothersome, Crawford was dealt to Atlanta as part of the three-team deal that netted the Clippers Danilo Gallinari and sent Paul Millsap to Denver. The Hawks then bought Crawford out, and he went on to sign with Minnesota.
It’s clear when you hear Crawford’s reasoning for signing with the Wolves that he appears to have found a new home. But the sting of being sent packing by a team that he thought he would finish his career with might not ever go away.
