By admin 
When talking about places in the United States that have produced the best hoopers, people always mention New York, California, Chicago, Texas, and even North Carolina.
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Perhaps one of the more underrated places that doesn’t get a ton of love, however, is Seattle. Not only is Seattle an incredible NBA city, but it’s also produced its fair share of elite-level basketball players, and quite possibly at the top of that list is three-time Sixth Man of the Year winner Jamal Crawford.
Born and raised in Seattle, Crawford was the eighth overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft and went on to have a solid 20-year career with stints in Chicago, New York, Golden State, Atlanta, Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota, Phoenix, and Brooklyn.
A crafty bucket getter who can provide a spark off the bench, Crawford built a reputation for being one of the league’s best Sixth Men and became a fan favorite among hoops enthusiasts.
Appearing on a recent episode of the Cousins podcast with Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, Crawford described Seattle as an underrated basketball powerhouse in the United States.
Trailblazer from Seattle
While it was Crawford who likely put Seattle on the map and opened the door for future generations of Seattle-based ballers to shine, he shared which Seattle-born hooper set the tone.
“I look at my generation, before me was Doug Christie, who y’all played with. It was Doug that kind of set the tone,” Crawford
“Then it went to Jason Terry, Mike Dickerson, people don’t talk about Mike Dickerson.”
Crawford believes that him making it into the league sort of paved the way for generations of players from the area.
“And then I came, and then the door just bust open,” Crawford said. “Now you got Nate Robinson, Brandon Roy, you got Terrence Williams, Peyton Siva, Aaron Brooks, Martell Webster, Spencer Hawes, to even current day, Zach Lavine, Paulo Banchero, DeJounte Murray, we have so many guys in the league. Tari Eason, Michael Porter Jr.”
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Other guys from Seattle worth noting include Isaiah Thomas, Kevin Porter Jr., Allonzo Trier, and Tony Wroten.
Sonic Inspiration
If it was Crawford who opened the door for Seattle natives to excel, he himself also gives props to a couple of homegrown Seattle stars, former Supersonics dynamic duo Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp.
Aptly named “The Sonic Boom” Era, Payton and Kemp played together in Seattle from 1990 to 1997, which was arguably the peak of the franchise’s popularity. Behind Payton and Kemp’s exciting brand of basketball, the Sonics never missed the playoffs and even made the NBA Finals in 1996.
The Sonics’ popularity in Seattle, Crawford says, helped inspire a generation of aspiring basketball players, including himself.
“I think for a while, it was a big thing when I was coming up just to get a football scholarship, a basketball scholarship. It wasn’t about the NBA, and I think that’s where Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp need their flowers, because they were really entrenched in the city,” Crawford explained. “Like GP and them were coming to watch me play in high school, so I felt like the Sonics, I can touch it. I can go to the game, I can see what’s going on.”
Indeed, that inspiration propelled Crawford into a respectable two-decade-long career in the league, and, in turn, he inspired generations of basketball players to come.
“It’s so many pros, at this point, I think in the last 15 years, I think we’re like 35 pros,” Crawford said of the players to come out from Seattle.
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This story was originally published August 18, 2026 at 7:35 AM.