Mavs Go Big-Fishing While Tyson Waits
By Mike Fisher | @fishsports
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) -- The Mavs have set their meetings with two big fish. So their own big fish — center Tyson Chandler — will have to wait.
"Business is business," Chandler said, aware that Dallas has prioritized a July 1 chase of DeAndre Jordan and LaMarcus Aldridge. "I get it. They need to make the best decision for the franchise. I still feel like I've got a lot to go, a lot left to give. At the end of the day, I feel like I make the best decision for myself and my family and Mark [Cuban] makes the best decision for the organization."
Dallas' LA-based meetings will put them on the short lists of Jordan and Aldridge. Ideally, Chandler would be swapped in a sign-and-trade to the Clippers should Jordan say "yes'' to the Mavs.
But things don't always go ideally -- especially when a player like Tyson Chandler has options of his own.
Chandler made $14.6 million last season after Dallas re-acquired him after a trade with New York. The Mavericks sent two 2014 second-round picks, Sam Dalembert, Shane Larkin, Wayne Ellington, and Jose Calderson to New York in exchange for Chandler and guard Raymond Felton. Chandler was reunited with the team he won the NBA Championship with in 2011 and remains beloved by the fan base, respected in the locker room and valued on the floor.
And other teams know it. Like the Bucks -- overseen by coach Jason Kidd, a teammate on that Dallas title team -- who reportedly have interest in Chandler.
"That's pretty interesting," said Chandler. "I didn't see that coming. But obviously it's a huge honor … that's humbling."
It's also humbling in a different way that he's on the Mavericks' back burner. That's why Dirk Nowitzki is saying all the right things in hopes fortune falls in Dallas' way … without dissing Chandler.
"I don't know what will happen (but) he knows I love him," Nowitzki said. "He'll always be family. We won the championship together."
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