Jamal Crawford believes the NBA has moved away from an era when elite scorers had a clearer distinction from role players, saying he misses the days when stars earned the freedom to take difficult shots and high volumes of attempts.
“Like the stars you guys earned being who you were. Like, so I miss the time when you had to earn that. Now you could have a role player guy like me come off the bench and take 18 threes in a game. Like how’s that possible? That should never be leave that for the KD’s and the Mac’s and the Vince’s, and the AI’s, like Kobe’s them guys earned that right. We supposed to support them,” Crawford said on Cousins with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady.
Crawford’s comments highlight the dramatic change in shot distribution across the NBA. The league has increasingly emphasized three-point shooting, spacing and offensive efficiency, allowing players throughout rotations to take shots that historically would have been reserved for primary scorers.
The former Sixth Man of the Year was himself an exception to traditional role definitions. Crawford averaged 14.6 points per game over his 20-season career and became one of the NBA’s most prolific bench scorers, winning the Sixth Man of the Year award three times.
His ability to create shots off the dribble gave him considerably more offensive responsibility than the typical reserve. Crawford finished his career with 15,419 points and made 2,221 three-pointers across 1,327 regular-season games.
The reference to Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Durant, Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant reflects an era when elite perimeter scorers routinely carried enormous offensive workloads. Those players combined high usage with individual shot creation and were frequently given possessions in which they could manufacture difficult attempts late in the shot clock.
The league’s offensive environment has changed significantly since those players were in their primes. Teams now prioritize three-point volume across the roster, with spacing requiring centers, forwards and reserve guards to remain willing shooters rather than leaving most perimeter attempts to a small group of stars.
Crawford’s own career illustrates part of that transition. He attempted 4.8 three-pointers per game over his career, but his volume increased substantially later in his career as the league moved toward greater three-point usage. In 2015-16, he averaged 6.3 three-point attempts per game for the Los Angeles Clippers, compared with 2.9 during his first full NBA season in 2001-02.
The modern NBA has also made high-volume three-point shooting by role players increasingly common. A reserve can enter a game primarily as a floor spacer and still be encouraged to shoot immediately when an opportunity appears, rather than waiting for the offense to return the ball to its leading scorer.
