Drew Crawford

Early life

By sixth grade, Crawford had given up all other sports to focus on basketball. He was a starter in high school as a sophomore. As both a junior and a senior, he was the DuPage Valley Conference Player of the Year. Because of his father's multi-decade career as an NBA referee, Crawford has been exposed to basketball at a high level from an early age. He shot around with LeBron James just before he went pro and also counts Reggie Miller among his early exposures to the game. As a high school basketball player, he was rated as the 40th and 72nd best shooting guard in the national class of 2009 by Scout.com and ESPN.com, respectively. He was also an A+ student in high school.

College career

On December 13, 2009, Crawford scored 35 points against North Carolina A&T. On December 14, 2009, Crawford was named Big Ten Conference player of the week. On March 9, 2010, he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year by the media (D. J. Richardson earned the same honor from the coaches). That season, he was an honorable mention 2009–10 All-Big Ten performer and one of three unanimous All-Freshman selections (along with Richardson and Christian Watford). He concluded the post season with a pair of double-doubles against Purdue on March 12 in Northwestern's final game of the 2010 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and against Rhode Island on March 17 in Northwestern's only game in the 2010 National Invitation Tournament.

On February 3, 2011, Crawford was selected by CoSIDA as among the forty Academic All-District players, making him one of 40 finalists for fifteen 2010–11 Academic All-American selections. On March 11, he posted his third career double-double against Ohio State in the 2011 Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.

On November 21, 2011, Crawford was named Big Ten player of the week. He scored 34 points on December 22, 2011 against Creighton. On February 23, 2012, Crawford was named to the 2011–12 Academic All-American second team. He was selected as a third-team All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and the media.

As a senior, he was a preseason candidate for the 2012–13 men's basketball Senior CLASS Award. On December 14, the team announced that Crawford would have season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

The following year as a redshirt senior, Crawford began the season as the Big Ten active career scoring leader. On November 9, he opened the 2013–14 season with a double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds against Eastern Illinois. On January 29, Crawford posted 30 points and 8 rebounds to lead Northwestern to a 65–56 victory over (#14 AP Poll/#13 Coaches' Poll) Wisconsin. On January 31, he was again named an Academic All-District by CoSIDA. On February 3, he was named Big Ten Conference Co-Athlete of the week (along with D. J. Newbill). The following day, he was recognized as the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the United States Basketball Writers Association. On February 20, he was named a first-team Academic All-America selection. By the time he celebrated Senior day on March 6, he was the Northwestern all-time leader in games played and games started. Following the regular season, Crawford was a third-team All-Big Ten selection by the media and honorable mention selection by the coaches. Crawford was listed on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I All‐District 7 second team on March 12. Crawford earned his fourth Academic All-Big Ten recognition in 2014.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2014 NBA draft, Crawford joined the New Orleans Pelicans for the 2014 NBA Summer League. On September 29, 2014, he signed with the Orlando Magic. However, he was later waived by the Magic on October 25, 2014. Five days later, he was acquired by the Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League as an affiliate player of Orlando. He debuted for the BayHawks with a 22-point, 9-rebound performance against the Idaho Stampede on November 14.

In July 2015, Crawford joined the Orlando Magic for the 2015 NBA Summer League. On August 7, 2015, Crawford signed with Bnei Herzliya of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. Crawford signed with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel of the Philippine Basketball Association on June 2, 2016, but he backed out in order to attempt to pursue the NBA Summer League.

In July 2016, Crawford joined the Toronto Raptors for the 2016 NBA Summer League. On August 11, 2016, he signed with the Raptors, but was waived on October 22 after appearing in seven preseason games. On November 28, he signed with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg of the German Bundesliga.

On August 7, 2017, Crawford returned to Israel and signed with Maccabi Rishon LeZion for the 2017–18 season.