ESPN reported Wednesday afternoon that the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks had reached an agreement which would send Tyson Chandler and Raymond Felton to Big D, and Samuel Dalambert, Jose Calderon, Shane Larkin and Wayne Ellington to the Big Apple. Also included in the deal are Dallas’ 34th and 51st picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft, which, if history is any indication, probably won’t amount to much.
Knicks send Chandler, Felton to Dallas for Calderon, Larkin, Dalembert, Ellington and No. 34 and 51, sources told ESPN. Deal is done.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) June 25, 2014
The Mavs stand to lose two starters (Dalambert, Calderon), but they get a marquee rim protector in Chandler, who spent one year there before signing a contract with the Knicks in 2011. That one year, of course, was 2010-11, when Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs made an incredible run through the playoffs, culminating in a win over the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. While Dirk, Jason Terry, Jason Kidd and others provided all the offense in that series, it was Chandler’s defensive presence in a stifling zone defense that helped turn the tide.
After it was over, the NBA was immediately mired in a lockout, and during the frenzy of a late free agency period, Dallas owner Mark Cuban decided not to run it back, and let his star center walk. Many people questioned the move, and felt somewhat vindicated when Dallas began a slide that resulted in a first round exit — a sweep — in 2011, and missing the playoffs entirely in 2012 (although, in all fairness, Dirk wasn’t exactly healthy through that stretch). Dallas has shown new life, especially after a valiant effort against San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs, when they gave the eventual champions their toughest competition of the post season. Adding Chandler gives them the defensive presence they’ve been lacking since, well, since Chandler left.
On another note, this is yet another move in a career that has been punctuated by strange circumstances, especially for a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate. First, as a straight-out-of-high school rookie in 2001, he was billed as Tower #2 in the failed Eddy Curry experiment in Chicago. He then moved on to the Hornets — then playing in Oklahoma City — and became the defensive anchor of a New Orleans squad that participated in a bizarre seven-game series against the Spurs in 2008 (every game was a blowout, with the home team winning each one until Game 7).
Injuries derailed his last season in New Orleans, who tried to trade him to a young Oklahoma City Thunder team. The trade was thisclose to going through, before the Thunder backed out, citing a failed physical. Chandler spent one season in Charlotte before being picked up by the Mavericks. In an odd twist, the Mavs faced the Thunder in the 2011 Western Conference Finals, the team Chandler very likely would have still been playing for.
Funny how that all works out.
[ESPN]
