After a disappointing season with the Portland Trail Blazers, former Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford has decided to opt-out of the second year of his contract.

Before the 2011-12 NBA season, Crawford signed a two-year deal with the Blazers worth $10 million. The second year of his deal had a player option of $5 million. This deal is fairly large for a 32-year-old on the downside of his career.

With the Blazers slipping into mediocrity last season after the retirement of Brandon Roy, the future in Portland doesn’t look very bright in the next couple of years. Forward LaMarcus Aldridge may have started to come into his own as the future face of the franchise and a perennial All-Star, but the pieces around Aldridge don’t seem to be enough to put the Blazers back into playoff contention as of right now.

With that being said, Crawford may have figured that he can cash in by becoming a free agent for the second straight off-season and improve his chances of winning an NBA title before calling it a career.

Even though his chances of earning more than $5 million next season away from Portland are slim with the new CBA and certain restricted ability to sign players to lucrative contracts, there will almost certainly be plenty of teams interested in bringing in the high-scoring combo guard.

Crawford’s versatility and scoring ability has always been his best asset and something that attracts teams looking for the missing piece to the championship puzzle.

Teams that might show interest in signing Crawford before next season are the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns and the Brooklyn Nets.

With the exception of the T’Wolves, Suns and Nets, all of these are legitimate NBA title contenders moving forward and intriguing options for Crawford.

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