Jordan Crawford is returning to play in the Chinese Basketball Association following his bid to return to the NBA with the Bulls earlier this fall, as the former first-round pick is joining the Tianjin Steel, tweets international journalist David Pick, who indicates that Crawford has already put pen to paper. The combo guard put up 29.4 points per game in five appearances during a stint with the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers last season.
Crawford, 27, played sparingly in the preseason for Chicago after he signed a non-guaranteed contract, averaging 3.2 points in 7.2 minutes a night over five contests. The Bulls waived him before opening night. He started 35 of the 39 games he played for the Celtics in 2013/14, the last season in which he saw regular season action in the NBA, but the Warriors reduced his role following a midseason trade, and an eye injury shelved him for much of last season. He played well for the D-League Fort Wayne Mad Ants in eight games to end 2014/15, averaging 22.6 points in 35.7 minutes per contest, but he only managed 10.2 points in 25.1 minutes per game during summer league play this year for the Mavs squad.
The four-year NBA veteran will again likely have a chance to try to return to the league as soon as February, when the Chinese regular season ends. Tianjin is 1-5 so far, so the team would have to turn its season around to make the playoffs and keep Crawford from re-entering the market by the NBA All-Star break.