Former NBA player Jamal Crawford will work this season as NBC’s lead game analyst.
Jamal Crawford, former NBA player and NBC lead game analyst sat down to discuss the 2025-26 NBA schedule in this month’s Reddit AMA. Check out what Crawford had to say below.
Question: What matchup are you most excited for this season?
I’m going to say the first matchup is what I’m most excited for. I think seeing Houston going to OKC, obviously, Durant coming back to OKC. OKC just won a championship, fresh off from that. I think that’s the one I’m looking forward to. And that’s kind of selfish, because I’ll be on the call as well. So that was kind of a selfish answer, for sure.
Question: What team do you think is taking the biggest leap this season?
My heart tells me Houston, because of the success they had with their young players, and they are getting a player of Kevin Durant’s caliber … I’ve been a Kevin Durant fan for a long time, and I had a lot of faith in it working out in Phoenix, and it didn’t, but I think this may be the right move.
Question: What do you think of KD’s fit in Houston’s offensive system?
I think KD will fit great. He’s one of the few people who are on the all-time list who have played but didn’t disrupt their teammates’ rhythm … he’s one of the few players, Steph’s another one, who can play any system and still be just as effective and not take away from anybody else. So when you play like that, you can fit any system. And he can tap into, I guess the kids say “their bags”, he can tap into his “do it yourself bag” if he wants, or he can tap into just playing with the unit. I think that’s what makes him so dynamite.
Question: How did you develop making more intentional decisions while being in the spur of the moment on court?
When I was a kid, my training method, looking back, wasn’t actually cones and chairs; it was people. And I learned that this move works better on this side of the court. This combination of dribbling, I can’t overdo it with a guy who is always reaching or very aggressive. So for me, it gave me a feel and it gave me a baseline. It slowed the game down for me, so to speak. I had a baseline, and then after that, I would just react. But I was comfortable in any situation because I had human beings as my actual “cones” versus just a cone there.
Question: When you were in the league, what were the main things you looked for when your team’s schedule was released? Matchups, travel trips, etc.?
For me, it was to see if we had a Christmas Day game, because that’s always like a big day, and you know the whole world is watching and they’re sitting around home, they’re opening gifts, and if you’re a hoops fan, like you have that full slate of game … it didn’t happen until I got to a really good team with the Clippers, and then we were on Christmas a lot. Thank you, Blake, DJ, and CP. That was what I looked forward to the most. It was a special opening of the schedule.
Question: Around what point of your career did you decide you wanted to give broadcasting a shot after your playing career was over? Anybody in particular that gave you the nudge to try it out?
You know what’s crazy about that is it was never part of the plan. And like I have said, “always have a plan”, but this wasn’t it. I always thought I’d be a GM, or I thought I’d be in the front office. And when I wanted to play towards the end of my career, and I wasn’t being signed, I literally got six or seven offers to be in the front office. And at that point, I was like, nah, my son’s getting older. I wanted to stay home and just be here. And that’s when I found out I had to move, and I wasn’t moving everybody again. But for me, some networks, like NBA TV and TNT, were like, “Hey, why don’t you fill in for Chuck?” I’m like, “Okay.” And I didn’t have the pressure of filling in for Chuck, because I wasn’t trying to get the job. I was going there like, okay, no problem. And then I got bit by the bug. I guess I’m a late bloomer in that way, but now I’m in a space where I want to be better at that in the broadcast space and not always as a basketball player.
Question: Who is your current favorite NBA player?
We already talked about KD, so I won’t say him again, but I would say Jokić. I just love the way he plays the game. He’s literally like four great Hall of Fame players in one, and he can tap into any one of them at any time. You see some Bird, then you see some Duncan, then you’ll see some Olajuwon with his post moves and his fade. Then you can see him being Sabonis, stretching out, and shooting threes. He could be so many different players at once. And I love watching him play, and he’s always so unselfish. That would have been a fun guy to play with.
Question: Where does that part of your legacy stack up in your mind as far as being meaningful to you amongst the many things you accomplished and experienced in your career?
I think it’s really the ultimate compliment. And if I’m being really honest, I thought I had the talent to make the All-Star game, and I thought I should have made it a few times, but it didn’t happen. But from Kobe to Jordan, to Isiah, to Magic, to LeBron, to KD, to some of the best players to ever play, saying they like my game or want me on their team or whatever the case may be, Isiah Thomas signed me and he was one of my favorite players, that is like the ultimate compliment. And there are a lot of people’s favorite players. So the fact that I got that tag is like really, really cool. And that means more to me than anything. So legacy wise, for me personally, that’s better than any award and any All-Star game I could ever make.
Question: You’ve done a lot of amazing things to promote basketball and help out youth in King County, WA. What motivates you to do that, and what has been the most memorable part of all those experiences? How do you feel seeing players who grew up participating in your programs making a name for themselves in the league?
Gary Payton and Doug Christie did it for me, and I was just one of a million kids with a dream, but they saw something in me, and they were at the top level, and they were telling me I could do it … these are pros, stars, saying I can make it. And so for me, it changed my life. If I’m ever in that position, I’m gonna do the same thing for the next generation … for example, Paolo Banchero, I used to go pick him up every day when he was 15, and he came to my camps, and now he has a camp this weekend for some of the best players in the country. He’s giving back in the same way … I had the baton, I ran my sprint, I ran my race, and now it’s your turn, and it’s really cool to see this next generation being affected by it.
Question: When you’re up against a quick defender, how much space do you give yourself as a ball handler between you and him? Do you still try to attack the outside foot or is there some gamesmanship in using the defenders ability to recover against them?
For me, and if you ask Kai [Kyrie Irving], because he’s one of the few people who sees the same thing when he’s dribbling, I’m not really judging his quickness. The first thing I’m looking at when the defender is on me is where the help is. And I’m seeing where he’s trying to influence me, because if he’s trying to send me to my left, that tells me their game plan was, “okay, the primary defender, send him left, and we’ll be in help positions and we’ll be able to follow him left. So I’m trying to counter that first before I look at his quickness or anything. And one of the tricks about somebody who’s quicker is just getting that initial space. Because once you get that initial space and get them off your body, now they’re on your hip, and now if you can hold them off, they’ll never catch up. We call that in the NBA and in basketball, “putting them in jail,” where they can’t get out. So you take control of the possession by just getting your shoulder or your hip past theirs. So, no matter how quick they are, you’re in control of that possession. So I’m always looking at the help defense first, and then just getting that defender off my body just enough where I can take control of possession and get it on my hip, and then I can pretty much do what I want.
Question: Who was the hardest international player you had to guard during your amazing career?
The hardest international player I personally had to guard was [Manu] Ginóbili … first off, he’s left handed, and leftees are always a little awkward, but then his fearlessness. The moment was never too big for him. And I saw a quote that Pop said when Pop got on him a couple of times early in his career, and Many was like, “It’s me. I’m Manu.” He didn’t think anything of it. So when somebody has that kind of freedom and that kind of talent, they’re tough to deal with, but we had some really good battles, and I have the utmost respect for him being one of the best players to ever play basketball.
Question: Do you have any specific tips on what you focus on to make your shots?
I think part of it is being okay with missing. Like, Steph Curry is the greatest shooter ever, and he makes half his shots. That means he’s missing half his shots. And you have to be okay with the miss. And if you put the work in and you’re confident and you’re okay with the outcome, you’re probably going to be a really good shooter. And I think that’s half the battle, the confidence. One thing I can tell you, though, is when I would struggle, like a game or two or whatever, or four or whatever, I would always get to the free-throw line in my warmups, and I did that because if you shoot a free throw, it’s perfectly resetting how you’re supposed to shoot. You’re holding your follow-through, your body is square, your shoulders are square to the basket. And it’s just that muscle memory, and just seeing the ball go through, it gives that confidence back little by little.
Question: Who is on your Mount Rushmore of handles all time?
I’m gonna say Isiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving, Jason “White Chocolate” Williams. And this fourth one’s always tough. So what I do is trick the system. I say Steph Curry/Baron Davis/Chris Paul/Steve Francis/Mahmoud. I put all the names. Nick Van Exel. Rod Stickland. See how this goes?
Question: Which player you played against who’s really good but others may not remember/think as such?
Nick Van Exel. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. I think they were so far ahead of their time. If you could shoot a three-pointer off the dribble when I came out, it was like, that’s the worst shot, I don’t care. You shoot that shot when it’s three seconds left on the clock. Now, the players that we revere and love the most, that’s their biggest weapon, the Dames, the Stephs, the Trae Youngs, all these guys, Luka, they shoot off the dribble, and that’s what makes them exceptional. It makes them the best in the world. So those guys were doing that then. They were doing it then. It wasn’t accepted, it was frowned upon. I’ll always try to pay homage to those guys, because those are a lot of the guys who I studied coming up.
Questions: How did you train for in-game clutch situations?
As silly as it sounds, it goes back to when you’re a kid, shooting in the backyard or the park. “Five, four, three, two – five, four, three, two. Oh, I missed that one.” And you just do it, and then it becomes muscle memory, because I think for the guys who are comfortable shooting in those situations from Kobe, the Dirk to LeBron to KD, to Steph, in their mind, they’ve already seen the ball go through. So they’re already confident. I think half the battle is if you overthink it, you’ll block your own shot. But you gotta be okay again with the outcome, and those guys have done it for so long, and their teammates now trust them. Their coaches trust them. And they’re like, if you miss, oh, okay, well, at least you got a good look, and we felt good about it. So I think that’s a huge part of it. And for me, I trained it as a kid. I didn’t care what I shot going into that last shot. I felt like it was going in. And a lot of times it did, and I’m thankful that I was okay with the outcome.
Question: When did you first come up with the shake and bake?
My Pro-Am, that’s mine now, it used to be Doug Christie’s. And I was one of two high school players to play in it. I got picked for it. And in my first four games, I had eight points combined. One of those four games was against a guy by the name of Brian Park. I have to give him a shout-out. Fast forward, and he locked me up. I’m nervous, I’m like, man, this is Brian Parker. He locked me up. So fast forward, I make the All-Star game, and it’s Brian Parker and me, one-on-one at Seattle University. I’m like, what am I going to do? I’m still nervous. And I do the move, and Brian Parker goes past me, like way past me. And I lay it up, and I fell into the wall. My mom was there, and I’m like, “Mom, what did I do? And she’s like, I don’t know, you did something. And I came back, and I was like, oh, I know exactly what I did. And that’s how I made it up. It was 16 and out of fear.
Question: How often would you say you still run 5 on 5s in 2025? What about just picking up a ball and shooting around?
I’ll probably pick up a ball and shoot around almost every day, just because I’m training all the time, or developing young people. So I’m always in the gym. 5-on-5, I could easily now go a month without playing. Then I’ll play, then I’ll play another time, and then week, and I go another month. So I don’t know how you do that average, but let’s say once a month, I play 5-on-5. I’m probably going to start playing a little bit more with the season coming up. I like to randomly go to the gyms, whatever city I go to, on Game Day, and just get runs. I’m like Andre 3000. I just pop in and go play. So that’s kind of where I’m at now.
Question: Who was your toughest defender?
My toughest defender was Tony Allen, for sure, and the reason is that he didn’t care about offense. Most guys in the NBA, who play basketball period, care about scoring, but he didn’t. So all his energy, all his focus was on making your life miserable. And he did an absolute terrific job of that. He had me thinking, and I’m a free-flowing player, I like to just flow and kind of go from there. He had me in thought. And it’s interesting because he did interview a couple of years ago, and they asked him the best crossover he had ever guarded, and he said mine. I’m like, no way, because I was thinking more about you.
Question: What player comparison do you see and think is similar to you, or the way you play?
I’m not sure it’s one player, to be honest, and full circle when I was a kid growing up. I was asking my friends, who do I play like in the NBA? They would say a little bit of this guy, a little bit of that guy. I’m like, there’s no one player? How am I going to make it to the NBA if I don’t play like anybody there? And now I’m kind of thankful for it. I would say if I had to combine a couple of people, I could see some of LaMelo with his flair. Kyrie some with his handles, and then there’s younger players like Rob Dillingham, who has some wickedness to him that I love, and Jordan Poole has some wickedness. Guys like that are coming up I see some similarities for sure.