BROOKLYN — DeAndre Ayton learned a lot from Trevor Ariza and Tyson Chandler, both of whom have moved on from the worst team in the Western Conference.
They next guy to go will likely be Jamal Crawford.
One night after losing in triple-overtime to the Washington Wizards, the Phoenix Suns had little left in the tank as they lost 111-103 to the Brooklyn Nets. Their holiday road trip moves next to Orlando, where the Suns will do the same thing they did on Thanksgiving — spend it away from their families.
Although Ayton is an exception.
His mother will travel in to be with him for his first Christmas as an NBA player.
What I learned from @TrevorAriza and @tysonchandler. Postgame comments from @DeAndre. pic.twitter.com/intdQDtnB3
— Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) December 24, 2018
The lone old man left in the Phoenix locker room is Jamal Crawford, now in his 19th NBA season.
Crawford spent the entire summer looking for a team that wanted him, and the Philadelphia 76ers are known to have been high on his wish list.
Sources around the NBA said it is a certainty that Crawford (who cannot be traded until Jan. 15 at the earliest) will be dealt or bought out, and it is a sure-thing bet that he will join up with a playoff team before March 1.
Golden State, Portland, the Los Angeles Lakers and Philly all are considered desirable destinations, although the team that needs a shooter most out of those four would appear to be the Sixers.
For now, Crawford is all about mentoring and contributing.
“I really want to see us improve, and getting from Point A to Point C is gratifying as well. Being a functional part of that is good,” Crawford said.
The highlight of Crawford’s season may have been dropping a career-high 14 assists against the Knicks a week ago, but highlights are hard to come by when your team is 8-26 and playing for ping-pong balls.
Crawford, the NBA’s career leader in 4-point plays, could be a difference-maker for the proper team.
The Suns are Crawford’s ninth NBA team, and he has been to the oplayoffs each of the past six seasons — five with the Clippers and one with Minnesota. Of his 74 career postseason appearances, 73 have come as a reserve.
Instant offense? He can still bring it.
Crawford shot 41 percent from 3-point range for the Wolves last season, his best shooting percentage ever in a single postseason. After spending so many of his 19 seasons with so many bad teams, he is probably the single biggest post-buyout target for a number of potential playoff teams.
But which one will want him?
Among the bottom 10 teams in 3-point field goal percentage, ranked 28th is Oklahoma City, ranked 23rd are Toronto and Utah, and ranked 20th is Denver. The Rockets, Lakers, Mavericks and Bucks are all in the lower half of the league in terms of 3-point field goal percentage.
If you look at 3-point differential, the team where Crawford might be able to help most is Indiana, which makes 2.0 fewer 3s than its opponents (the Rockets lead the league, making 4.9 more 3s per game than their opponents.)
So there will be no shortage of suitors for Crawford after he becomes trade-eligible, and it may come down to a question of whether a team is willing to surrender an asset to Phoenix in order to trade for him.
But it is really not that simple. Last season, the Hawks were only asking the Sixers for a second-round pick in a Marco Belinelli trade. But Bryan Colangelo would not even offer that, and he ended up adding both Belinelli and Ersan Ilyasova to the roster in February free agency.
One would imagine that would be a cautionary tale for executives around the league, but guys who think out of the box and grab someone while they are still able to be grabbed are few and far between.
In the meantime, Crawford waits and Ayton learns.
They are teammates now, but they won’t be at the end of the season.
That bet is an absolute lock.
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