Celtics Urged to Re-Acquire $29 Million Ex-Starter

Getty Jae Crowder #99, Phoenix Suns

In a December 8 Bleacher Report Story, Zach Buckley listed three players of whom the Boston Celtics could potentially target. Among them is former Celtics starter Jae Crowder, who remains with the Phoenix Suns after both sides mutually agreed to part ways before the season started.

Buckley explained that the Celtics’ potential interest stemmed from both his skillset and not having to face him on one of their opponents.

“For starters, the Celtics could use another two-way forward behind—or alongside—Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Crowder, who spent two plus-seasons in Boston before being included in the 2017 Kyrie Irving trade, could be an easy fit for his old franchise as a versatile defender and capable three-point shooter (career 34.6 percent).

“The added bonus of a Crowder deal, though, would be Boston keeping his talent, toughness, and experience away from its competitors.”

“Virtually every win-now shopper has seemingly been connected to the 32-year-old, and the Celtics could stay a step ahead of everyone else by winning this chase.”

Crowder is in the last year of a three-year, $29.1 million contract he signed with the Suns in 2020 and is slated to make $10,183,800 for the 2022-23 season.

Crowder Was Almost Traded

On November 17, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports revealed that the Suns were close to finalizing a deal to trade Crowder, though he did not specify who Crowder was being traded to.

“Word is the Suns appeared close to finalizing a three-team trade involving Jae Crowder prior tip-off tonight against Golden State,” Fischer said.

On November 20, Marc Stein reported that while talks had progressed with Crowder potentially being sent to Milwaukee, nothing materialized. Stein also brought up another Eastern Conference team who may be interested in Crowder.

“There was a good bit of buzz that Phoenix was finally making progress on a Crowder deal — one that would likely land him with one of his most ardent suitors (Milwaukee).

“Yet no trade materialized and, by week’s end, chatter had begun to resurface that Atlanta remains a potential Crowder destination and should not be discounted.”

Exec Explains Why Celtics Won’t Acquire Crowder

An Eastern Conference executive explained to Heavy Sports’ Sean Deveney why a Crowder reunion in Boston likely won’t happen.

“They’d be interested in him if there were a deal to be made, but there is nothing that makes sense there,” the exec told Deveney. “They’re interested. Every team is interested, but it is hard to line up the contracts in a way that makes sense.”

The exec told Deveney that the players that would have to be involved in a deal would not make sense on either side.

“Are the Celtics going to give up Payton Pritchard and Grant Williams to get Jae Crowder? Of course not. They’re not giving up Derrick White for him. So where is the offer? There is no move there that makes sense. ‘Not interested,’ a lot of times, that just means we don’t have the pieces to make a deal,” the executive said.

The executive added that there can only be one way in which the Celtics could get their hands on Crowder.

“If (Phoenix) were to buy out Crowder, I guarantee you the Celtics would be at the front of the line trying to sign him.”