Miami Heat unwilling to include Caleb Martin in a trade for Jae Crowder

January 27, 2023

All season long, Jae Crowder has refused to take the court for the Phoenix Suns. He asked for a trade over the summer and has patiently waited for it to happen. The unfortunate thing for Crowder is that Phoenix has not been in any hurry to comply with his request. He has squandered the better part of a season, sitting about and doing nothing. It might be time for his fantasy to come true now that the trade deadline is in two weeks.

There will be a lot of clubs interested in Crowder’s services. He is a three-and-D role-playing PF who can lift any team making a run for the playoffs and blend in. When Miami Heat acquired him at the 2020 trade deadline, Heat Nation saw that. He started the game alongside Bam Adebayo and thrived in the Heat’s system.

On his way to an NBA Finals trip, he made big shots and contributed to spreading the floor. He accepted nearly every defensive matchup that was requested. Crowder blended in seamlessly and was crucial to the team’s success in the playoff bubble. Since the PF’s original desire for a trade, Pat Riley and the Heat brass have been associated with him.

Riley knows precisely what a player like him provides because he has been in this situation before. The interest is unquestionably there, as it has always been. The price Phoenix is asking for is the issue.

In exchange for Jae Crowder, the Phoenix Suns are looking for two of the following three things:

 

  • First-round selection
  • A great young athlete

A strong rotational player

 

That is undoubtedly too much to expect in exchange for a player’s services who still need to set foot on an NBA court this season. Crowder for Caleb Martin is one reported trade. If Martin is on the table, the Suns would be thrilled to make a deal like that, which would almost certainly ensure that Crowder signs with us. Miami, though, is not interested in that.

It makes it reasonable that Phoenix would need Martin’s assistance. He is comparable to Crowder because their stats this year with Martin compared to Crowder’s playing last season are practically equal. Martin scores 9.9 points a game, pulls 4.7 rebounds and makes 38% of his three-point attempts. Crowder recorded 9.4 PPG and 5.3 RPG in the 2021–2022 season.

I mentioned in an article I wrote a few weeks ago that Phoenix had made the Heat a “standing offer.”