The LA Clippers may trade Jamal Crawford this year after signing Josh Smith and Paul Pierce in free agency and teams like the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks could be potential landing spots. The Knicks have been mentioned as an option, as they have Jose Calderon and could consider trading the point guard this year.
Crawford reportedly is unhappy with his role on the team and according to Frank Isola at the NY Daily News, the Knicks have "expressed interest" in a deal for Crawford. Isola wrote that while no deal is close to happening as of now, once camp gets closer the two sides could talk about a trade. Crawford has been a strong bench option for the Clippers in the past, but with Smith, Pierce, Pablo Prigioni and Wesley Johnson all signed this summer and Lance Stephenson coming in a trade, Crawford may not have much of a role moving forward.
According to Ian Begley at ESPN New York, a trade with Jose Calderon is "not imminent" despite some reported rumors about Crawford and the Clippers being an option. Calderon took to social media and hinted that the Clippers and Timberwolves are interested, but right now no deal is close. Calderon still has another year left on his deal after this and that could make him tougher to move.
Check here for more on the Knicks interest in Crawford.
Crawford is in the last year of his deal and earlier in the offseason he was mentioned as a potential target for the Miami Heat and Cavs. Those teams have likely cooled on a deal for now, as the Cavs have JR Smith, James Jones, Matthew Dellavedova, Mo Williams and others back, while Miami still has to see if they can trade Mario Chalmers. The Clippers have not appeared to be interested in Chalmers or Chris Andersen at this point. The Cavaliers also previously talked with the Nets about a deal with Joe Johnson and Brendan Haywood, but the sides could not work out the money and Haywood went to the Blazers in a deal.
Marc Stein at ESPN reported earlier in the summer that a trade with the Clippers for Jamal Crawford is a potential target for the Cavaliers, but that was only if Smith did not return. Crawford also could be a trade target for teams like the Knicks, Heat and Blazers later in the season if a deal doesn't happen now. If camp deals don't go down, players like Chris Andersen, Josh McRoberts, Anderson Varejao or Mario Chalmers could be targets during the season in deals involving Crawford.
Miami could still be an option depending on what happens to Chalmers, as the Heat still wants to add some more wing scoring even after signing Gerald Green. The team wants to limit Dwyane Wade's minutes this season and while Green helps that, adding Crawford could be even better for keeping up with Wade's production. Miami has been shopping Chris Andersen and Mario Chalmers and they already traded Shabazz Napier this offseason.