Rowan Kavner 
Digital Content Coordinator
NEW ORLEANS – Jamal Crawford turned 36 years old Sunday. Or, maybe he turned 34.
“I always thought Jamal was Benjamin Button,” DeAndre Jordan said, in reference to the character who gets younger as years go by.
Crawford’s not going back in time, although his looks, his style of play and his mindset might appear that way. As he turns 36, his age isn’t on his mind in his 16th season in the league.
“How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you were?” Crawford asked. “It would be based on how you feel.”
For Crawford, that’s someone in his 20s. His teammates think the same.
“He’s 26,” Jordan said. “Like I always say, I really think he’s a vampire, for real.”
As Jordan made that comment, it was during the daytime at a practice. If Crawford’s a vampire, that seems impossible.
“We’re inside,” Jordan reasoned.
Whatever the case, Crawford says his body doesn’t feel different than it did years ago – something he attributes to playing basketball every day of his life, whether in the offseason or now during the regular season, among a few other reasons.
“Because God got me,” Crawford said. “I’m on a mission. I think my style of play, not drinking, I think I’m a product of clean living. I don’t drink, don’t smoke.”
Rather than go out after a game, Crawford said he’d prefer to head back to the hotel and rest or get a massage.
He’s in a rare group of mid-30-year-olds who don’t feel the signs of slowing down from a physical standpoint. He knows if he takes time off, his body might feel different.
So he doesn’t plan on letting that happen.
“I just hate being out of shape,” Crawford said. “I hate that process of it. You can be in shape forever, it takes one week to get out of shape. But on the opposite end, if you’re in shape, you can just keep going. I don’t feel anything. I feel great.”
Crawford doesn’t talk about his age or think about it until people remind him. Inevitably, a birthday will cause that to happen.
He received plenty of texts from friends and family Sunday afternoon before playing the Pelicans, but he didn’t have plans to celebrate. That’s typically how it goes for Crawford on his birthday. Most of the major celebrations he’s had weren’t his own doing.
Some of the most memorable for Crawford were his 25th birthday, when someone threw him a surprise party in New York and Jay-Z attended; another time, Crawford’s wife threw Crawford a surprise party in Golden State, bringing friends down from Seattle.
But Crawford, who said he doesn’t like attention off the court, wouldn’t have done much otherwise.
“People talk about it more to him than he talks about himself,” Rivers said.
Nowadays, that may be more a product of not wanting to believe he’s getting up there in age for an NBA player. Crawford worries the more people think about their age, the more they age themselves.
The mindset is most of the battle as Crawford, even at age 36, could win another Sixth Man of the Year – an award Rivers said should be named after Crawford.
The Clippers entered Sunday afternoon 35-12 this season when Crawford scores in double figures and 8-13 when he fails to do so. Now at age 36, Crawford still leads the league in free-throw percentage, and he’s still averaging more points per 36 minutes than he did his first three seasons in New York a decade ago.
“You think about his age and being into the game and being ready right away, it’s remarkable,” Rivers said. “I can’t give you an answer on how or why. He works on it, I can tell you that. He works on his game a lot.