Ever been in a relationship where you’re back and forth in dating? They cheat on you and then expects you to be cool with an apology while asking you to come back? I’m pretty sure the lot of you have, but when it resembles business, it’s a different playing field.
Tyson Chandler and the Dallas Mavs have a love/hate relationship. One minute they are happy together winning titles, the next Chandler left for the Knicks, then three years later he’s back on the Mavs roster but for only a short period of time. If you can remember while Mark Cuban was reportedly driving around looking for Deandre Jordan (While Jordan was playing cards with the Clippers), Cuban was losing out on one of his best defensive weapons in Chandler. A deal didn’t get done and Chandler decided to head to Phoenix.
And of course, no one breaks up without a some shade being thrown, right? During the NBA Media Day for the Phoenix Suns, Chandler was asked a question pertaining to his depature from the Mavs, and he revealed his distaste for how the situation was handled.
“I thought it was crazy,” Chandler told reporters during media day with the Phoenix Suns, his new team. “I never thought that DeAndre was going to sign with the Mavs, to be honest. I thought he was leaving a great situation back in L.A. Clearly, their roster is very talented and they have an opportunity to contend, so I didn’t understand it to begin with. Him going back on it, I actually thought that he got a good look at the picture.”
Cuban commented on the Chandler/Mavs situation via radio on 103.3 ESPN Dallas, and agreed that Chandler does have the right to feel “Salty”:
“He does have the right to be salty,” Cuban said during an appearance on 103.3 FM ESPN’s “Dennis and Friedo” on Friday.
“I didn’t think it would get to that point,” Cuban said of the 33-year-old Chandler’s departure from Dallas. “We actually tried to have discussions right at the start of the year about an extension and it kind of just died on the vine. His agent didn’t really take it anywhere, and I was the first to say ‘If you don’t want to take it right now, we’ll try to figure something out at the end of the year,’ because I realized that by waiting that gave Tyson an extra year.
“Then the opportunity for DeAndre came along and we were pretty straightforward. Tyson or his agent gave us the ultimatum before the decision was made. He said he wouldn’t wait. That’s his decision. It is what it is. He does have a right to be salty, because I really did suggest to him — and it’s exactly the way I thought — that he’d be here for a long time.”
“It tells you a lot about the way the NBA looks at all the drama when they have us playing those guys right off the bat,” Cuban said. “But, you know, we’re in the entertainment business.”
At the end of the day, I’m sure Chandler realizes business is business, but you do expect some sort of trust in people’s word in a business that’s cut throat; to some, it can make you cold. Chandler is due for a breakout season, he’s still young and has the capability of becoming the defensive threat he once was in Dallas for the Suns. I’m sure when the two first meet in preseason, Chandler wont hold any punches.
H/T: Tim MacMahon, ESPN
