After reporting earlier in the week that the Suns appeared to be making real progress on trading Jae Crowder – perhaps in a three-team scenario – Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports was hesitant to offer many specific details in the latest episode of his Please Don’t Aggregate This podcast on Thursday, noting that he has yet to confirm the exact framework of the deals Phoenix is discussing. However, Fischer was able to identify a presumed frontrunner for Crowder.
“The only other thing I really feel comfortable sharing and confident sharing is that people around the situation have said that Milwaukee is the most likely team to land him,” Fischer said. “I can say that.”
As Fischer notes, he reported last week that the Bucks – who have long been identified as a possible suitor for Crowder – were gauging Grayson Allen‘s trade value around the league. So if Milwaukee does make a deal for Crowder, it seems likely that Allen would be an outgoing piece, either to Phoenix or to a third team.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- After missing most of last season due to a back injury, Bucks center Brook Lopez is healthy and making a significant impact on the defensive end this season, according to Nekias Duncan of BasketballNews.com, who argues that the big man should be in the early Defensive Player of the Year conversation. Lopez is on an expiring contract and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
- Logan Murdock of The Ringer takes a look at the Cavaliers‘ recent slump and their efforts to become a title contender without LeBron James for the first time in the 21st century. “I think for all of us, everyone is preaching championship,” Cavs wing Caris LeVert told Murdock. “I’ve been around a lot of teams, and it’s a long season. A lot of things happen within the season. So I think for us, just staying focused on the day-to-day, getting the most of each day, trying to maximize our potential each and every day will take care of all the rest of the stuff.”
- Pistons center Jalen Duren is the NBA’s youngest player and the only one who was born after LeBron James made his NBA debut in 2003, but his teammates and coaches have been impressed with his maturity, writes Jamal Collier of ESPN.com. “He don’t feel 18. He’s not built like he’s 18,” Isaiah Stewart said of Duren, who turns 19 on Friday. “He’s built like a grown man. He’s very mature for his age.”
- In a pair of stories for The Chicago Sun-Times, Joe Cowley considers what’s next for the enigmatic Coby White once he gets healthy and wonders if some lineup changes are in store for the struggling Bulls.
Won’t make much of a difference for Milwaukee when the refs give the bucks almost 15 points a game in free throws. Scoring is where I’d be shoring-up, but maybe Middleton is healthier than I think.
Always wondered why Crowder never hung on with a team. Always takes the tough assignment, solid off the bench player. Is he a locker room issue?
Yeah, I’ve kind of wondered the same thing, but idk, without doing much research, the conclusion I came to was that generally he’s a very solid role player, and he’s been one that’s also had one of those salaries that’s conducive to being apart of bigger trades and helping those teams matching salaries.
If you put together the fact that he’s a solid role player that most teams always want and any contending team or noncontending team can use, his salary, but then add in the fact that he is relatively replaceable, I think that’s why he’s been a part of so many trades.
Whether you were a contender that needed some more wing toughness and scoring, or whether you were a rebuilding team looking to have a veteran rookies could learn and grow from, Jae Crowder fit that bill, and at a pretty reasonable price for the majority of his career.
I don’t think it has anything to do with Crowder being a malcontent or a locker room distraction, unless he is simply just not being used hardly at all. The only time I’ve ever heard of him being disgruntled is when his minutes have been dwindled down.
That would be any regular NBA player though, if you’re used to getting decent minutes and playing time, especially on a contending team, then you’re going to be upset when you’re not seeing the court
Except his scoring is mediocre – 9.4 ppg on 40%/35% shooting.
I guess he’s a better rebounder than Allen
Has Cowley ever said anything remotely interesting about the Bulls? Or anything else for that matter? it’s really comical at this point. And he’s from the Atlantic that CHARGES YOU MONEY to read his drivel, Which is one of the main reasons I never will. Wow.
But…Lopez is washed?
duren ‘s about to have a 20 reb game.