Today in Boston Celtics history, Jordan Crawford was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1988. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers and the Xavier Musketeers. Crawford was drafted 27th overall by the New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn), but his rights were traded to the Atlanta Hawks later that summer before he played for the Nets.

Crawford also played with Atlanta and the Washington Wizards before he was traded to the Celtics for Leandro Barbosa and Jason Collins in February of 2013. He would begin his second season with the team as Boston's starting point guard with Rajon Rondo out injured. As a result, Crawford started in 35 of the 39 games he played with the Celtics that season. The Detroit native was dealt in January of 2014 with MarShon Brooks to the Golden State Warriors in a three-team deal that would send Joel Anthony from the Miami Heat to Boston.

Crawford averaged 13.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game as a Celtic.

Birthdays

It is also the birthday of former Boston big man Kevinn Pinkney, who briefly played for Boston in the 2006-07 season after an injury-depleted roster was granted an exemption to add a 16th player.

The University of Nevada alum would play just six games for the Celtics on a pair of 10-day contracts before leaving to play overseas that summer. He averaged 5.2 points and 2.5 boards per game with Boston.

A day to forget

Then-Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Boston alum Chauncey Billups, and then-Miami Heat guard (and fellow Celtics alum) Terry Rozier, and fellow Boston alum and Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones were arrested in connection with two extensive investigations into illegal sports betting and rigged poker games allegedly linked to organized crime.

Billups and Rozier were placed on leave from their respective teams. They were among 34 people were arrested as the result of the federal investigation that these Boston alumni were implicated in.

Historic milestones

Today is also the date of Celtics forward Ron Watts' debut with the team, which came in a 120-110 loss to the (then) St. Louis (now, Atlanta) Hawks in 1965. The Wake Forest alum had a modest debut, logging 2 points, a board, and an assist in 3 minutes of game time.

A pair of Celtics debuted on this date in 2019, Grant Williams and Carsen Edwards. Playing their first minutes for Boston in a 107-93 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Williams had a bit of a rough debut, pulling down a single rebound in 7 minutes of play, while Edwards recorded 3 points and a board in 11 and a half minutes of floor time.

That game was also the first in the pandemic-interrupted season of 2019-20, though that is a story for another day.