Veteran guard Jamal Crawford published a tweet early on Monday morning announcing his retirement as a professional basketball player.
“‘Goodbye to the game, all the spoils the adrenaline rush,'” Crawford wrote, quoting a Jay-Z song. “Thank you basketball, I owe you everything …..✌”
While Crawford’s tweet doesn’t explicitly state that he’s retiring, it seems pretty safe to assume that’s his intent.
The longtime NBA guard turned 42 years old on Sunday and hasn’t played in the league since he appeared in a single game for the Nets during the 2020 bubble at Walt Disney World.
Selected out of Michigan with the eighth-overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft, Crawford played in 1,327 regular-season games and another 74 playoff contests across 20 seasons for the Bulls, Knicks, Warriors, Hawks, Trail Blazers, Clippers, Timberwolves, Suns and Nets.
Crawford averaged 14.6 PPG and 3.4 APG on .410/.348/.862 shooting in 29.4 minutes per game over the course of his career.
In his final non-bubble game, playing for the Suns in Dallas on the last day of the 2018-19 season, Crawford went off for 51 points. It was the most points he had scored in a game since 2007 and the second-highest mark of his career.
The Seattle native was a three-time Sixth Man of the Year, earning the honor in 2010, 2014 and 2016. He also won the league’s Teammate of the Year award in 2018.
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