NBA GM Rips Jae Crowder for Not Playing for Suns amid Desire for New Contract

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Jae Crowder's ongoing holdout from the Phoenix Suns is reportedly not winning him any fans around the NBA.

One anonymous general manager ripped into the Suns forward, saying Crowder has alienated teams by choosing to sit out over frustration with his contract.

"He just didn't show up," the general manager told Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. "He said he's not playing unless he gets a contract extension that he wants. I think a lot of teams are turned off by that in and of itself. Like, 'What? You don't want to play for one of the best teams in the NBA and PROVE that you're worth it so you can get a contract next year? Like, you're not that good, bro. What are you doing?' It's a weird dynamic. It's one thing if Kevin Durant's holding out because he's not getting paid enough, but Jae Crowder? Seriously?"

Crowder seemingly responded to the comments via a post on his Twitter account:

Crowder is in the final year of his contract and is being paid $10.2 million this season. He is coming off a largely unspectacular 2021-22 campaign, which saw him average 9.4 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting just 39.9 percent from the field.

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While Crowder is a solid role player who provides rugged defense on the perimeter, the anonymous general manager isn't particularly wrong in this case. If the market for Crowder was what he expected it to be, he'd already be wearing a different uniform.

Instead, Crowder is wasting the final year of his contract and doing nothing to help out his value on the open market. Rather than proving his worth on the court, he chose to make his stand after a largely shaky season.

The Suns have also played just fine without him, sitting at 19-14 despite missing Chris Paul for much of the season.

This gamble has already backfired in a major way for Crowder.