Former Boston Celtics forward Jae Crowder could end up being forced into retirement, as he doesn’t currently have a job in the NBA. Crowder only appeared in nine NBA games this past season, all with the Sacramento Kings. He was on the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons prior to that, but the last time he appeared in at least 60 games was during the 2021-22 season, when he was with the Phoenix Suns.
At 35 years old, Crowder is certainly entering the final years of his potential NBA prime. If he doesn’t land with a team at some point in the near future, he could end up having to call it a career.
Time is turning out.
How was Jae Crowder with the Celtics?
Crowder played with the Celtics for a two-and-a-half-year stretch from December of 2014 to 2016. He was a part of the trade that sent Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks, and he arrived in Boston around the same time as Isaiah Thomas.
Those teams relied on Crowder, too. He was a heavy-minutes rotation player for the Thomas-led Celtics, acting as a full-time starter for teams that made deep playoff runs, including a trip to the Eastern Conference finals in 2017.
During his time in Boston, Crowder appeared in 202 regular-season games for the franchise, more than any other team he’s played for. He averaged 12.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists while shooting 44.4% from the field and 35.3% from beyond the three-point arc.
He eventually left the Celtics as part of the Kyrie Irving trade, shipped to the Cleveland Cavaliers alongside Thomas and draft capital in the summer of 2017.
What teams could Jae Crowder help now?
At this point in his career, Crowder is not nearly as equipped to help teams win as he once was. When he was at his best, he was a versatile defensive pest who could guard multiple positions, while also being able to knock down the three-ball.
Unfortunately, as he’s entered the last few years of his career, he hasn’t been the defender he once was, and perhaps even more significantly, his three-point shooting numbers have fallen off a cliff.
From the 2021-22 season onward, Crowder has shot just 35.4% from distance, and his overall efficiency has tanked, too, shooting just 41.2% from the field in that same time frame.
Maybe there’s a team out there willing to throw Crowder a minimum contract to be a veteran in the locker room, but at this point, it looks like his NBA career may have come to a close.