It looks like Turner has found their replacement for Dwyane Wade on NBA on TNT Tuesday Night. Wade left the company after three seasons earlier this month to focus on his other projects and business ventures, which include 59th and Prairie Entertainment and an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz. Now, Andrew Marchand of The New York Post reported Wednesday that Jamal Crawford is set to take over Wade’s Tuesday role:
Jamal Crawford was used to going to new teams and trying to replace big stars during his NBA career. He is at it again, The Post has learned.
Crawford is set to succeed Dwyane Wade on TNT’s Tuesday night NBA set, which features Shaquille O’Neal, Candace Parker and host Adam Lefkoe, according to sources.
Crawford, 42, played for nine different NBA teams from 2000-2020. He played for a lot of coaches as well, memorably listing the 17 coaches he’d played for at that point during a 2014 halftime interview. So he has quite the level of experience with many different current NBA figures. And he also holds an interesting record as the oldest player ever to score 50 points in a game, which he did with the Phoenix Suns in 2019:
Youngest Player to Score 50 PTS
— Brandon JenningsOldest Player to Score 50 PTS
— Jamal Crawford pic.twitter.com/b6srzrqkS7— Hoop Muse (@HoopMuse) September 28, 2022
This isn’t the first venture into broadcasting for Crawford (seen above in an April 2019 game for the Suns). He started doing NBA HooperVision alternate feed commentary broadcasts with fellow former player Quentin Richardson for selected games on NBA League Pass (which was operated by Turner, but is now shifting to Microsoft) last season. And he appeared on some NBA on TNT broadcasts as well, filling in with Wade and Lefkoe on Thursdays for some games in the wake of the NCAA Tournament (which the regular Thursday crew worked). That included one in April where he broke a camera when a jump shot rebounded in an unusual way:
The crew had a shootout and @JCrossover broke one of the cameras 😬 pic.twitter.com/5FNfhPymkD
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 8, 2022
Hopefully Crawford’s regular role with TNT will involve less broken cameras. But he seems like a reasonable hire here, with strong playing experience, some broadcasting experience, and some experience broadcasting with this company and some of the Tuesday crew. We’ll see how he does with Lefkoe, O’Neal, and Parker on a regular basis.