Jamal Crawford looking like odd man out for Clippers

By foxsports
Published

The Clippers may be deep, but with depth comes over-saturation. Is that a problem for one of the best benches in the league?

The Clips brought in Pablo Prigioni, Lance Stephenson, Wes Johnson, Josh Smith and Cole Aldrich this offseason while also retaining Austin Rivers in the free agency mark. Naturally, that leads to the question: What the heck is going to happen to Jamal Crawford?

Grant Hughes ponders that exact same predicament over at Bleacher Report:

Crawford's sole contribution to the Clippers was second-unit scoring, and if he had an off night, he simply had nothing else to offer. Stephenson is prone to shooting woes himself (See: all of 2014-15), but at least when he goes cold, he can help in other ways.

The Clippers' other offseason additions improved the team's overall depth from nonexistent to respectable, which might be all it takes to get this team a championship. Remember, despite the complete absence of reserve help last year, L.A.'s starting unit was good enough to dispatch the San Antonio Spurs in the first round and then come within one impossibly fluky quarter of eliminating the Houston Rockets in the conference semifinals.

Crawford averaged 15.8 points per game last year, posting his least-efficient season during his three years as a Clipper. He could stick around, but it's unclear how such an experiment would work. If he gets dealt, the question then becomes, who would want him?

Score-first, instant-offense bench guys usually don't have much value in the trade market. In a league where Lou Williams went for only three years, $21 million coming off a Sixth Man of the Year award, it's tough to imagine Crawford would be all that sought out on the trade market.

(h/t Bleacher Report)