Bucks Spoke With Suns on Possible Jae Crowder Trade

The Suns have spoken to the Bucks about a potential trade involving veteran forward Jae Crowder, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The Suns have been looking to move Crowder since before the season, as both sides agreed he would sit until a deal is found. Along with the Bucks, Crowder has been linked to the Hawks, Heat, Celtics and Cavaliers, among a few others.

Crowder, 32, is 6-foot-6 and appeared in appeared in 67 games last season (all starts), averaging 9.4 points on 40 percent shooting, to go with 5.3 rebounds and some strong perimeter defense. His trade request came atter learning he was likely to lose his starting job to Cam Johnson.

“I thought the way Phoenix played the situation was strange,” a Western Conference executive said, via Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports. “You’re not a super deep team. You’re a contender. Doesn’t it seem like there’s some other way to resolve this other than him sitting out and hurting your depth?”

An Eastern Conference executive seemed equally perplexed.

“For Jae to hold out is pretty rare. It’s pretty extreme,” the exec said, via Fischer. “It’s really interesting they didn’t just play hardball with him.”

As the Bucks, it appears there are several different avenues they could take to land Crowder. Most would involve parting with at least one rotation player and perhaps a pick.