The destination of veteran guard Jamal Crawford of the Los Angeles Clippers continues to be a mystery, with the Miami Heat now reportedly in the mix, joining both the Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks.
A tweet from ESPN’s Jorge Sedano noted the Heat’s interest by citing a New York Daily News article written by Frank Isola that briefly mentioned Miami as a possible contender for Crawford’s services. The Isola article primarily focused on the likelihood of Crawford returning to play for the Knicks, where he played from 2004-08.
Heat also interested in Jamal Crawford according to @FisolaNYDN (Along with Knicks and Cavs) https://t.co/2e28MA0ykH
— Jorge Sedano (@SedanoESPN) August 18, 2015
Subsequent tweets from Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel gave a little more detail on a possible deal. Winderman first tweeted that the Clippers might possibly be offered the contracts of either Chris Andersen or Josh McRoberts.
Per @FisolaNYDN report of teams interested in Jamal Crawford, Heat could make deals with matching salaries of Birdman or McRoberts. — Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) August 18, 2015
Moments later, Winderman tweeted that Miami had shown interest last month prior to the signing of Gerald Green.
Crawford has an expiring contract that pays $5.7M for the coming season. Heat, though, linked to Crawford before Gerald Green signing.
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) August 18, 2015
Los Angeles is looking for some salary cap relief, since the 34-year-old Crawford is scheduled to make $5.67 million for the upcoming season.
The main value for the Heat in adding Crawford would be as something of a safety net in the event that Dwyane Wade, who has had a number of injury issues during the past few years, is unable to play. Last season, Crawford averaged 15.8 points per game and dished out 2.5 assists per contest in 64 games. Over the past six seasons, he’s been primarily an offensive weapon off the bench.
One other key factor in Miami’s interest is the fact that his contract expires after the 2015-16 campaign. That neatly dovetails with Pat Riley’s reported plan to free up enough salary cap money to acquire Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant in 2016.
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