It appears that the Timberwolves will have to add an extra bag of money to convince veteran guard Jamal Crawford to return for another a season.
According to ESPN’s Chris Haynes, the veteran shooting guard is opting out of the final year of his contract with Minnesota. Crawford agreed to a two-year, $9 million deal last season and was due to make $4.5 million in 2018-19.
A source close to Crawford tells BMTN that while Crawford is 100 percent opting out and is expected to listen to free agent offers, he could return to the Wolves if the right deal is offered.
What’s more is that Jimmy Butler has already stressed to Minnesota’s front office that he wants the team to do whatever it takes to bring Crawford back next season, Haynes says.
Jimmy Butler has stressed to management that he wants Crawford to remain in Minnesota, sources say. https://t.co/Z9ziqbFSTf
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) May 2, 2018
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Wolves are a bit hamstrung with how much more they can offer Crawford than the $4.5 million he was due to make.
“Crawford has non-bird rights and Minnesota is restricted to $5.19M in the first year they can offer the guard,” Marks said in a tweet. “Minnesota does have the $8.6M midlevel and $3.4M biannual exception available but using more than $5.29M of the midlevel would hard cap the team.”
The source we spoke with also says Crawford also has to decide if he wants to uproot his family for a second straight year, and that his kids were are just getting settled into new schools after spending the last five years in Los Angeles.
Crawford averaged 10.3 points in 80 games as Minnesota’s top scoring option off the bench this past season.
