A former 6-foot-5 guard for the Chicago Bulls in the early 2000’s, Jamal Crawford, saw Michael Jordan have a big impact on him in his career.
When the Chicago Bulls were trying to rebuild their franchise in the early 2000’s, one of the building blocks was former eighth overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft, 6-foot-5 and 185 pound point guard Jamal Crawford. Playing in four different seasons at the outset of his NBA career with the Bulls, Crawford was thrown into the fire with a team devoid of talent early on.
Crawford joined the Bulls just after the run with all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan in the Windy City ended in the late 1990’s. At the time when Crawford was beginning his NBA career with the Bulls, Jordan was taking on the final stint in his playing career with the Washington Wizards. Jordan played in two seasons to officially round out his career for the final time.
It seems like Jordan still had a big impact on Crawford early in his NBA career, though. Just as Crawford was trying to find his way in the league with the Bulls, Jordan offered a guiding point for a path to success at the highest level.
According an interview with K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, Crawford not only had MJ helping him find his way early in his NBA career but he also got some cool stuff done off-the-court. Crawford and MJ took part in a famed Gatorade commercial where he took on himself. Crawford played the role of the young MJ in the commercial.
In this piece with NBC Sports Chicago, Crawford also detailed how MJ was able to introduce him to rapper Jay-Z nearly two decades ago.
"That kind of went into me meeting Jay-Z. Imagine getting so tight with Michael Jordan you’re like ‘Hey I wanna meet Jay-Z and he’s like ‘OK,’ and he makes it happens like that. It was unbelievable. Going to his house, working out with him, him picking me to be in the commercial with him to play the young Jordan…"
Jay-Z was one of the biggest hip hop stars of the early 2000’s, so that was clearly a big moment for Crawford as he was becoming a notable athlete in the NBA at the time.
Moreover, Crawford would wind up winning the Sixth Man of the Year award on three different occasions. He was also named the Teammate of the Year as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2017-18 season.
While Jordan never got to play on the same team as Crawford, he did get to play against him as a member of the Wizards. Jordan and the Wizards came out on top on three occasions in four tries against Crawford and the Bulls. But Crawford actually averaged more points per game (13.5 compared to 13.0) than Jordan in those four games.