Former Laker Makes Shocking Pick for Future Hall of Famer

This is a fascinating role player-for-Naismith play.

Jan 5, 2017; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Evan Turner (1) hits a shot over Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young (0) as Los Angeles Lakers forward Julius Randle (30) closes in during the fourth quarter of the game at the Moda Center. The Blazers won the game 118-109. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-Imagn Images / Steve Dykes-Imagn Images

With the retirement of former Chicago Bulls All-NBA point guard Derrick Rose announced this fall, debates have swarmed around the league about whether or not the three-time All-Star and 2011 MVP could be named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

While Rose at least seemed headed for a Hall of Fame trajectory prior to career-altering ACL and meniscus tears, a beloved former Los Angeles Lakers swingman recently advocated that another former top Chicago lottery pick deserves a slot in Springfield.

Nick Young, a 6-foot-7 USC product, logged a memorable four of his 12 NBA seasons suiting up for a string of lottery-bound L.A. teams, took to X recently to vouch for three-time Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford as a Hall of Famer — provided Rose is seen as one.

If d rose a HOF @JCrossover Crawford better be one

— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) September 27, 2024

Crawford was never an All-Star, but he was an elite role player for an extended period of time, providing major scoring punch off the bench for several deep playoff-bound clubs. His three Sixth Man of the Year honors tie him with ex-Lakers combo guard Lou Williams for the most in NBA history (though Williams won zero of those accolades in L.A.).

The 6-foot-5 Crawford was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft out of Michigan. Over the course of a 20-year career, the combo guard emerged as one of the more lethal ball handlers in the game, with a crossover so vicious it was incorporated into the Seattle native's most infamous nickname.

Across 1,327 regular season games (433 starts) with the Bulls, New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, L.A. Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and finally the Brooklyn Nets, "Jamal Crossover" averaged 14.6 points on a .410/.348/.862 slash line, 3.4 assists, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks a night. He finished among the top 14 voting recipients for Sixth Man of the Year honors nine times in his career, winning the Hawks once and the Clippers twice. Crawford also boasts a robust 19,419 career regular season points, a pretty astronomic figure for anybody, let alone a reserve who never averaged 20 or more points in any individual season.

His identity as a clutch playoff contributor arrived during the second half of his career, when he made eight consecutive playoffs from 2009-18, but never got further than the second round.

Crawford's case for the Hall is one that could also reasonably be applied to a Robert Horry type: he was fantastic in his role, on teams that mattered. In the case of Horry, who was a stretch four before it was cool on a whopping seven championship teams (including three Lakers title winners), he was a crucial contributor to clubs that won it all at a level unseen since the Bill Russell-era Celtics. Crawford never achieved that postseason success, but was a more critical offensive component of his clubs in his era. Neither player, as of now, seems to have the individual goods to make the Hall.

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