When the Phoenix Suns signed Tyson Chandler last summer to a four-year, $52 million deal, they saw themselves as a team on the rise in the West with quality guard play — and they were in the hunt for LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Suns are 19-50 this season and poised to restart the rebuilding process they were on a couple of years ago before the surprise 48-win season.
Chandler, at age 33, does not want to be part of a rebuild, he told Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic (hat tip Eye on Basketball).
You can’t blame the man for wanting to win.
However, he didn’t re-sign in Dallas (they targeted DeAndre Jordan), and he took the money to go to the Valley of the Sun. He didn’t hook up with other contenders or even borderline contenders. Fair enough if he thought the Suns would be better than this, but they were not contenders.
The Suns likely will shop Chandler this summer, as they did at the trade deadline, but there wasn’t much of a market for him then, and it’s unlikely that’s going to change. He’s a 33-year-old coming off a down season and with some injury history who is owed $39 million over three years after this season. Even with the rising cap that’s a chunk of change, $13 million a season, and again teams see him as on the downside of his career. Other teams will not offer much in return, if they have any interest in the first place.