Jae Crowder landed in Minneapolis an hour before midnight on Tuesday night, then signed his contract with the Sacramento Kings three hours prior to tipoff of Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Crowder passed a physical and went through meetings but didn’t take part in Sacramento’s midday shootaround. Playing in the game wasn’t on his mind.
“Once I walked into that meeting room with the guys, I saw my name. I was like, ‘Alright, it’s here,’ ” Crowder said. “So, I just prepared and tried to get my mind where it needs to be.”
Crowder, 34, will play his second contest for the Kings on Friday night when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers.
The game is part of the NBA Cup. The Trail Blazers are 1-1 in West Group A play and the Kings are 0-2. The Houston Rockets lead the group with a 3-0 mark.
Crowder played 27 minutes in his Sacramento debut and had eight points and four rebounds as the Kings rallied for a 115-104 victory. Sacramento outscored Minnesota 34-18 in the fourth quarter to end a four-game losing streak.
The Kings are hoping the 13-year veteran’s experience will be a nice complement to their star trio of De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan.
He has averages of 9.3 points and 4.2 rebounds in 804 career games (435 starts) and has long been known for his strong defensive presence.
The other trait long associated with Crowder is winning.
“Jae has been around a long time,” Kings coach Mike Brown said. “He’s been in the playoffs 11 straight years, so he knows what it takes to win.”
Sacramento is the ninth team for Crowder, who has averaged in double digits in scoring seven times. Before he was in the NBA, he was the co-star of a Marquette team that included longtime NBA star Jimmy Butler.
DeRozan missed the contest against the Timberwolves due to lower back pain and has been ruled out for Friday’s game.
Portland has dropped two straight games and four of its last five.
The Trail Blazers concluded a 1-4 road trip with Wednesday’s 121-114 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Anfernee Simons broke out of his slump with 30 points and six 3-pointers. He had scored in single digits in four of the previous five games, including 2-of-14 shooting from the field for five points in a 123-98 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
“I thought Ant was good. He was aggressive all night,” Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said after the loss to the Pacers. “His shots were going. He made them pay for defensive mistakes that they made down there.”
Billups was unhappy with Portland’s board work as his squad was outrebounded 47-38. Indiana gobbled up 19 offensive rebounds.
“We fought extremely hard. All our guys played hard,” Billups said. “It’s hard to overcome (nearly) 20 offensive rebounds and (22) second-chance points. It’s hard to overcome that.
“You can play as hard as you want but if you can’t grab that offensive rebound and you keep giving good offensive teams more opportunities to score … it wears you down.”
Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant (sprained left knee) missed the Indiana game and is doubtful for Friday’s game.
Sacramento has won six of the past seven meetings, including a 111-98 home victory on Oct. 28. Fox scored 24 points and DeRozan added 23 for the Kings. Deandre Ayton recorded 20 points and 11 rebounds to pace Portland.
–Field Level Media
