Brooklyn Nets guard Jamal Crawford hasn’t played in an NBA game in more than a year. Milwaukee Bucks guards Eric Bledsoe and Pat Connaughton have yet to play in an NBA restart game at Walt Disney World.
All three players will be in the mix for their respective teams as they match up this afternoon (1:30 ET, NBA TV). Per multiple reports, Crawford will be playing today, marking his first NBA game since an April 9, 2019 game against the Dallas Mavericks in which he scored 51 points.
Bledsoe and Connaughton have missed the Bucks’ first two seeding games in Orlando as Milwaukee has gone 1-1 during that span. Both players began practicing with the team in late July after they each reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus in July. Neither is expected to play a high number of minutes vs. Brooklyn, per coach Mike Budenholzer.
The 40-year-old Crawford has been out of the league since the 2018-19 season, when he averaged 7.9 points and 3.6 assists in 64 games with the Phoenix Suns, notably scoring 51 points off the bench (18-30 FGs) in the season finale vs. Dallas. Crawford was the oldest player in league history to top 50, and also became the only player to score 50 for four different teams.
In his career, Crawford has averaged 14.6 points and 3.6 assists while taking home Sixth Man of the Year Award three times.
This season, Bledsoe is averaging 15.4 points, 5.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds while Connaughton is averaging 5.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 1.6 apg as av valuable reserve for the Bucks.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
