COREY JAE CROWDER

Corey Jae Crowder (born July 6, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is the son of former NBA player Corey Crowder.

Not being heavily recruited out of high school, Crowder committed to South Georgia Technical College and later Howard College, where he led the team to an NJCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in his sophomore season. While at Howard College, Crowder was also named State Farm Junior College Player of the Year.

Later, he transferred to Marquette, where he was named Big East Player of the Year in his senior season. After his senior year ended, he became eligible for the 2012 NBA draft, where he was drafted 34th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers and traded to the Dallas Mavericks on draft night. In 2014, Crowder was traded to the Boston Celtics. He spent three years in Boston before being traded back to his draft team, the Cavaliers, in August 2017. In 2018, he was traded to the Utah Jazz and he has also played for the Memphis Grizzlies and the Miami Heat (with whom he reached his first NBA Finals in 2020). He reached his second NBA Finals with the Phoenix Suns in 2021.

FUN FACTS

Jae Crowder was born on July 6, 1990, in Villa Rica, Georgia, to Helen Thompson and basketball player Corey Crowder. Crowder attended Villa Rica High School, where he played as starting quarterback for the football team and as starting point guard for the basketball team. Crowder spent the summer holidays in Florida, working out and training with his father, then a professional basketball player with 2 years experience in the NBA who was playing in Europe. Growing up, he was undersized and overweight, weighing nearly 200 pounds in his junior year. Eventually, he called his father to help him lose weight. By the end of his junior year, he had grown to 6'4" and had significantly improved his physical conditioning.