Report: TNT taps Jamal Crawford to replace Dwyane Wade

Crawford will join Shaquille O'Neal and Candace Parker, alongside host Kevin Lefkoe, in the Tuesday edition of TNT's NBA show. He officially retired from basketball this March, after 20 NBA seasons, but hadn't played since he took the court for one game for Brooklyn during the 2020 COVID bubble. Before that, it looked like he'd closed his career scoring 51 points in the final game of the 2018-19 season, at age 39.

Crawford began his broadcasting career in 2020-21 by doing commentary on selected NBA League Pass games with Quentin Richardson. Last season, he was a regular guest on TNT's shows, filling in while the regular crew was doing March Madness telecasts. Crawford was so relaxed, he didn't even mind Candace Parker roasting him for still using a BlackBerry.

Besides his unconventional chocie in personal digital assistants, Crawford is a three-time Sixth Man of the Year, plus the NBA's Teammate of the Year in 2018. He played for nine teams and a whopping twenty different head coaches during his career, so he's very familiar with the entire NBA landscape. Crawford also runs the popular Seattle pro-am league The CrawsOver, where this year LeBron James played - and Chet Holmgren was knocked out for the season trying to defend him.

Inside the NBA will begin the season on Tuesday nights, to avoid Thursday Night Football, so Crawford's regular Tuesday gig will begin once the NFL season ends. That gives Crawford plenty of time to practice racing Kenny Smith to the Big Board.