When the Trail Blazers officially introduced newly-signed Jamal Crawford at a news conference, he held up a brand new white No. 11 Blazers uniform and beamed from ear to ear as photographers snapped photos. Wait … No. 11? Doesn’t Luke Babbitt wear No. 11? Not anymore
Crawford bought the number from Babbitt after a series of playful back-and-forth negotiations that spanned multiple days and involved Blazers captain LaMarcus Aldridge as a mediator.
No. 11 cost Crawford $12,000.
“That was a hard bargain, a tough bargain to get it,” Crawford said, laughing, after the Blazers’ practice on Saturday. “Luke could have been a lawyer … he got me.”
Aldridge planted the seed for the transaction on Wednesday night, when he called Babbitt to lobby on Crawford’s behalf.
“He called me and said Jamal was looking at signing with us and that he’s worn 11 almost his whole career,” Babbitt said. “He was wondering what it would take to get it and said (Crawford) was willing to offer some money.”
Babbitt told Aldridge he was open to a change and would think it over. The next morning, Crawford reached out to Babbitt in a text message and the two exchanged figures in a series of back-and-forth bargaining sessions.
“He low-balled me,” Babbitt said, laughing. “So I came back with something and we met in the middle.”
Funny thing is, Babbitt says he doesn’t really care what uniform number he wears.
He’s partial to No. 5 — the number he wore in college at Nevada — but former Blazer Rudy Fernandez had it when Babbitt was drafted and new point guard Raymond Felton snatched it up when the Blazers acquired him in a trade over the summer.
“Jamal’s a veteran, so he deserves it,” Babbitt said. “Besides, I didn’t even like 11. I don’t put a whole lot of stock into the number you wear and a number isn’t worth that much to me. So I’m a happy man. I think Jamal’s a happy man. It’s a win-win.”
Babbitt will wear No. 8, which former point guard Patty Mills sported the last two seasons.
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