On Tuesday, it was reported that the Sacramento Kings would be hosting veteran forward Jae Crowder for a workout.
According to sources, free agent forward Jae Crowder will be working out with the Sacramento Kings this week. The 34-year-old veteran was with the Bucks last season.
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) September 10, 2024
Like last month with Isaiah Thomas, Crowder will join roster players in town seeking on-court competition.
The Kings don't currently have any spots on their regular season roster. However, they can offer players a training camp deal, and if the player(s) perform well enough, they can clear out a spot to add them to the fold.
What's going on here is neither of those things. Like what they did with Isaiah Thomas, the Kings are giving Crowder the chance to show them how much gas he has left in the tank. If he meets/exceeds their expectations, they may decide to offer him a camp deal (like the Boston Celtics did with Lonnie Walker IV).
A Player With Championship Pedigree
After a busy offseason, the Kings are hoping to make a deep playoff run. However, the only player on their roster who has any experience of that nature is DeMar DeRozan, and even he has only appeared in one conference finals (in 2015-16).
In theory, Crowder would give the Kings someone who is battle-tested. Up to this point, Crowder has been to three conference finals and two NBA Finals. Even if he isn't giving them much of a boost on the court, his veteran wisdom could be worth a minimum contract (3.3 million based on Crowder's experience) on its own.
Should The Kings Try To Sign Crowder?
Crowder's playoff experience (115 games, 86 starts) could be enough to warrant using a roster spot on in and of itself. But just in case it isn't enough, let's take a look at his on-court fit.
Given their current roster, what the Kings really need is a wing/forward who can fill the modern-day three-and-D role. As I've outlined in previous articles, here is how Crowder performed last year in statistics that I like to use for projecting how well a role player may perform on a competitive team.
Statistic | Output (Percentile) |
|---|---|
Wingspan | 6'9.25 (37th) |
3-Point % | 34.9% (40th) |
3-Point Attempts per 75 Possessions | 5.2 (52nd) |
True Shooting on Drives | 44% (10th) |
Drives per 36 Minutes | 1.3 (9th) |
Defensives Estimated Plus-Minus | +1.2 (86th) |
Steal Rate | 1.6% (62nd) |
Block Rate | 0.7% (14th) |
(Sidebar: All data from the chart above was taken from, Crafted NBA, Dunks & Threes, and the Thinking Basketball database.)
According to these numbers, Crowder has average size, is a meh spacer, a poor closeout attacker, a good overall defender, and a bad secondary rim protector (which the Kings really need with Sabonis as their center).
From an on-court perspective, Crowder doesn't make much sense for this team. But at this stage of free agency, his experience may be the best thing they can acquire.