LA Clippers guard Jamal Crawford has been through a lot in his 16-year NBA career, and once lost so much money betting with Michael Jordan, Ray Allen and professional gamblers that he received death threats.
Jamal Crawford has had quite the NBA career. He’s finally found a home with the LA Clippers, soon to be the team he’s been with longer than any other once he begins his new three-year, $42 million deal next season. The drastic pay rise accompanies his title as the most decorated role player of all time, thanks to a record-breaking three Sixth Man of the Year awards. Crawford hasn’t always had this kind of stability, though, and as he’s grown older and matured over the course of his career, he’s learned valuable lessons along the way.
What you may not know is that during his earliest days in the league, Crawford got swept up into gambling.
The Undefeated’s Mark Wise has written a brilliant profile of Crawford, detailing the “long and winding road” of his career and some of the struggles he went through early on.
One such struggle was the tale of the last time Crawford gambled, and it’s quite the tale, to say the least. Wise wrote that, “ began making bets with money he didn’t have on hand with a group of professional gamblers used to getting paid on the spot.”
Crawford used to play pickup with Michael Jordan in 2001, and their time together extended into gambling at Jordan’s restaurant, One Sixtyblue, along with another NBA legend Ray Allen and professional gamblers. But things didn’t go too smoothly:
"Over what is believed to be a two-day span, he said, [Crawford] lost in the neighborhood of $100,000. A person with intimate knowledge of the game claims Crawford lost several hundred thousand and Allen lost even more. And that, days after the dice game, a call was placed to Goodwin, Crawford’s agent, to inform him that Crawford had not yet squared his debt with one professional gambler.“OK,” Goodwin said, according to the person with intimate knowledge of the game. “What does he owe? Jamal is good for it.”“No, you don’t understand,” the go-between said. “If he doesn’t pay now, these guys will kill Jamal.”“Kill Jamal?!! He’s an NBA player. He gets paid as soon as the season starts. Give me the dude’s number.”"
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When you woke up today, you might not have been expecting to read that Crawford used to gamble with Michael Jordan and once received a death threat in the process, but now you know.
Wise added in his story that Crawford’s agent resolved the situation, so no more threats were delivered. Even still, it was enough to prompt Crawford into changing his ways.
Crawford hasn’t gambled since that night, as he told Wise for the profile story. A lot of growth will have happened since that day, both in terms of Crawford’s ability as a player to his decision-making off the court as a professional, one that’s a little more conservative with money at that. He emphasized that learning from mistakes and making the correct decisions has been important for him over the years.
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Crawford said that he never heard of his life being threatened, but the person Wise spoke to seemed insistent of what happened. Also, rather than losing $100,000, Crawford still suffered a heavy financial loss, parting with his new 2001 Mercedes-Benz S Class 430.
It’s safe to say he’ll be incredibly grateful for the stability he has with the LA Clippers now.