Heat’s Jae Crowder feeling at home in Miami in advance of NBA free agency
Jae Crowder made no mention of a hometown discount when it comes to his impending free agency, but the forward who helped lead the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals has left no doubt about his adopted hometown.
From the moment he began preparing for his NBA entry in the 2012 draft, Crowder made South Florida his base of operation and stressed in a recent interview with the South Florida Sun Sentinel that that has not changed.
“My pre-draft workouts, and everything, my agent, he lives in Boca,” the 30-year-old veteran said. “So I stayed in Florida, I stayed in Miami. At the time I was training, I was training in Miami. So I would travel to these cities, where home for me was Miami, because I wanted to be close to my agent and my dad lived in Florida, at the time, as well.”
Crowder’s agent is Boca Raton-based Glenn Schwartzman. His father is former NBA player Corey Crowder.
Raised in Georgia, Crowder said the ties to South Florida have helped him maintain his basketball focus.
“I wanted to get away from home, because I wanted to focus on my career and what I really needed to focus on, and that’s basketball,” he said.
From that starting point, throughout a career that has taken him through six NBA stops, with Miami being the latest, the 6-foot-6 defensive-minded forward set a goal of the area as his permanent residence, even before the February trade that delivered him to the Heat from the Memphis Grizzlies, along with Andre Iguodala and Solomon Hill, in exchange for Justise Winslow, James Johnson and Dion Waiters.
“Ever since then,” he said of his nascent NBA days, “once I was able to carve out my career and get some money, I knew I was going to buy a house in Miami. And that’s what happened three years ago, I was able to buy a house.”
That made staying in shape easier during the NBA’s four-month shutdown due to the pandemic, as has working toward the start of next season.
A starter in all 21 of the Heat’s playoff games, a run that ended against the Los Angeles Lakers two victories shy of a championship, Crowder closed the postseason with 55 3-pointers, the second highest playoff total by a Heat player. The franchise record entering the 2020 playoffs had been the 48 of Antoine Walker in the Heat’s run to the 2006 championship.
As an unrestricted free agent, Crowder is free to sign with any team, with the Heath holding his Bird Rights, and therefore allowed to re-sign him above the salary cap. He previously has stressed a desire to return, but also has acknowledged the financial significance of entering free agency at this point of his career.
Still, there does appear to be an adopted-hometown advantage.
“I haven’t looked back since I bought my house,” he said. “This has been home for me.”
Having his father a short drive away, in Fort Myers, also could play in the Heat’s favor in free agency.
“Me and my father speak every day,” Crowder said. "If it wasn’t for him, there’s wouldn’t be a Jae Crowder in the NBA, honest to God’s truth. It’s no if and or buts about it. He helped me lock in mentally and he helped me diagnose the game mentally.
“He really molded me into who I am today as a basketball player and how I approached the game and my outlook on the game.”
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