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2025 Free Agents - Jae Crowder

After entering the league as a wing, Crowder has had success the past several seasons as a small ball four (in today's NBA we can probably even just remove the "small ball" from that title) in Utah, Memphis, Miami, Phoenix, Milwaukee, and now Sacramento. He was a late signing in '24-'25, and barely played any minutes for the Kings, so his NBA career is on the ropes. Offensively, Crowder is mostly just a spot-up threat, as the majority of his attempts come from 3-point range (about 60% of his attempts over the past three seasons). He's a career 35% 3-point shooter, and has hit around that mark over the past few seasons. You'd like to see him hit at a slightly higher rate, especially since he mostly shoots pretty wide open attempts, but he's good enough to be a credible threat. Crowder may not be an All-Defense level player, but he can hold his own against elite wings. He has the size and strength to guard bigger wings. Even at age 33, he still moves his feet decently and can stay in front of his opponent in on-ball situations. He has consistently put up good steal rates throughout his career, and his 2.2% steal rate in '21-'22 was in the 91st percentile for his position, according to Cleaning the Glass. He contributed to some successful Suns defenses recently, which finished 6th and 3rd in defensive rating in '20-'21 and '21-'22, respectively. Age-related regression might hurt Crowder as he enters his mid-30s, but as long as he continues to hit shots he could be a reliable role player during the regular season. He plays hard and makes the right plays on both ends of the court.

Summary

Crowder will be an unrestricted free agent with a $2.3 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. This means that the highest starting salary the Kings could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is $4.4 million. This should be enough to retain Crowder, since he settled for the minimum to come to Sacramento. Alternatively, the Kings could use their Mid-Level Exception or Bi-Annual Exception (if available) to re-sign Crowder if he demands more than $4.4 million.  Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Crowder as even teams without cap space could possibly use the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also likely that Crowder only gets minimum offers again, and may not even get fully-guaranteed offers.

Cap Considerations

Markieff Morris (1 year minimum, non-guaranteed, 2024) Torrey Craig (1+1 year minimum, 2023) Javonte Green (1 year minimum, 2024)

Player/Contract Comparison

Potential Teams: Kings, 76ers, Spurs, Pelicans, Hornets

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $3.6 million (non-guaranteed) with the Kings

Last updated: 5/26/2025

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