The Wizards appear to be among the trade suitors for Suns forward Jae Crowder, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on his latest Hoop Collective podcast. Crowder has sat out the entire 2022/23 season as Phoenix has looked to move him, and Washington is in the market for a three-and-D type player.
“There’s been some chatter about them looking at a guy like Jae Crowder,” Windhorst said of the Wizards (hat tip to RealGM). “I’m pretty confident there’s been some discussions between the Wizards and Suns. We’ve been talking about Jae Crowder now for about two months. It’s obvious it’s a hard trade to pull off. The Wizards have a bunch of guys who make decent salaries on their roster that they can use in trades.”
A number of Eastern Conference playoff contenders have already been linked to Crowder, with the Heat, Hawks, and Bucks among the teams said to have interest. There was a sense a couple weeks ago that Phoenix might be on the verge of completing a deal involving the 32-year-old, but nothing has come of those rumors to date.
The Suns are one of the NBA’s best teams and will be looking for win-now pieces – rather than draft picks or prospects – in any Crowder trade, which has made it challenging for them to make a straight-up trade with another contending club. They’ve reportedly explored multi-team scenarios in an effort to get the sort of player(s) they’re targeting.
According to Windhorst, Phoenix would like to acquire a power forward in a Crowder trade. A previous report indicated the Suns have interest in Kyle Kuzma, but the Wizards are presumably looking to supplement Kuzma in their frontcourt rather than give him up, given the year he’s having. Former lottery picks Rui Hachimura and Deni Avdija could be trade candidates, as Windhorst observes.
“What Phoenix has been looking for in return for Jae Crowder is a power forward,” Windhorst said. “So you can look at the (Wizards’) roster and you can identify that maybe Hachimura would be a guy. But they haven’t made the deal yet, so there hasn’t been a connection there.
“… To be honest with you, if I was Phoenix – now again, this is me speaking, this is not what I’ve heard, to be clear – I’d be interested in Avdija. I am interested in what he can do defensively. But I haven’t heard that. I’ve just heard that those two sides have talked.”
Crowder ($10.18MM) and Hachimura ($6.26MM) are on expiring contracts, while Avdija ($4.92MM) has one more year left on his rookie deal after this one.
Is Crowder even better than Hachimura?
Nope. He’s never been that good. He’s just been on some good teams. Better than average D, worse than average on offense and on the boards.
And now he officially has an attitude.
Agreed!
No, Suns will have to give up a Second Round pick if they trade for Rui. With Deni They don’t have to trade any valuable assets. Deni and Crowder are like the same. Decent defenders but horrible on offense and can play make. I see why the person said trade for Deni but it won’t make sense for Suns to do so. They need someone who can shoot and not afraid to play bully ball. I honestly think I would choose Rui because his contract is almost up and he would match the Salary. He’s a upgrade and is only in his early 20’s.
Deni, while far from being a good player, has shown improvement this year. Not sure that Washington would move him for Crowder, who ain’t that good.
Deni shoots 40% FG and he’s a starter. Y’all need to stop treating a starter as a baby when his shooting got worse and he avg 7 pts a game that’s not good. Rui avg 11 pts and shooting 48% FG while playing off bench.
Right now yes Hachimura is still years away from reaching his full potential. Crowder brings toughness, elite defensive versatility, good shooter, crashes the boards, does the little things etc every team would love to have him. I doubt the Wizards would give up on Hachimura so early. Crowder is a winning player who fits today NBA.
I hope you know Crowder shoots 38% FG and Rui shoots 48% FG. One is a starter and the other just a bench player that deserve to be in a 5 man lineup. He took 8 shots and made 3 last season. Deni is just as bad and I don’t understand the hype. Problem is Rui isn’t even a starter as the other two and shot as many shots last season. He still had 49% FG and 50% 3PT. Deni went from 41% FG to 40%FG and 33% 3PT. Suns if smart will Take Rui and Taj.
@ styles:
“Sure”, that’s why Crowder’s still waiting for some team to trade for him.
Same thing with the earlier rumors that the Bucks were acquiring Crowder. Why would the team with the 2nd best record want to change their roster?
Crowder would be a nice piece for any contender to rent at just 10 mm this year, but he’s a limited player after all. So, I wonder if interest in him will fade as more guys become available in the trade market.
This guy is overrated. I’m sure the suitors can’t wait for his 5 points a game contribution!
He’s the kind of guy that is a 4th scoring option on a playoff side and 2nd or 3rd best defender.
He’s versatile, has a good skill set that can suit any team and has played on a few good sides.
He’s definitely not that all star player that elevate a team but he can be a difference maker and give a team that little boost it needs to get over a hump. Be interesting to see what sort of a return Pheonix can get as they are also a win now side and on paper it would just make sense that he stays. Cause they are trying to replace him with another version of himself
4th best scoring option on a playoff team? He was 8th in scoring for the Suns last year. He shot 39 percent. Not from the three point line. He shot 39 percent for all attempts.
I think Simmons>Russ doesn’t really watch basketball and bases his takes on 2K player ratings.
Not at all don’t even have 2k this year. It’s always the same s**t different year.
As for crowder and those rankings I meant more from a starter’s perspective. For his career he’s usually the 4th scoring option and one of the better defenders.
According to basketball reference with the suns 2020-21 and 21-22 he was 5th in points per game both seasons. So you’d call him the 5th scoring option. However earlier in his career with the Celtics he was the third scoring option after Isiah Thomas and Avery Bradley.
As for the percentages I never mentioned them. I just said he’s usually the 4th scoring option. For his career he’s 42% FG% donuts not a surprise to see him at 39.9% FG now that he’s older
@ Simmons>Russ
I just checked and you’re wrong. Crowder was 8th on the Suns in ppg at 9.4 in 21-22 (bench players Johnson, Payne, and Kaminsky each outscored him playing fewer minutes/gm).
Suns obviously aren’t missing him so far.
I mean Deni is a decent defender but at same time he isn’t good and he play make but they already have enough guys that can do it. Rui is at least good at shooting and going up to the rim. Suns defense is the reason they shouldn’t worry. Look At Cavs they star SG can’t play defense but the team makes up for it.
Hachimura avg 11 pt 5 rbs 1 AST in 22 minutes and Deni Avg 7 pts 3 rbs and 2 Asts in 27 minutes. Suns defense is ranked at 6 btw and they have enough play makers so Deni is needed. They need a player that can get rebounds and shoot.
Hachimura avg 11 pt 5 rbs 1 AST in 22 minutes and Deni Avg 7 pts 3 rbs and 2 Asts in 29 minutes. Suns defense is ranked at 6 btw. Rui needs to be freed any way. The bench player putting up better stats than the starter btw.
There are about 5-10 better options on non competing teams for his position that contenders can look at and probably get them at a good rate, Crowder is a good role piece, average across the board, not really a weakness but no big strengths either. But he’s not worth all the hype we’re hearing in the rumour mill.
No way Avdija, or Hachimura is traded for Crowder without 1st round picks baiting the Wizards. Late 1st round picks for atleast another season or 2. I love the nickname Windy for this guy. He’s a windbag alright. Has so many Hot Air, nothing stories when LeBron James isn’t playing.
Suns are on CRACK if they think they’re getting Kuzma, Hachimura or Deni LOL
Their draft pick is not worth anything and Crowder doesn’t have the upside of any of those three.
Tommy Shep doesn’t even answer the phone