50 Greatest NBA/ABA Players Not In the Hall Of Fame
By Phil Watson
Copyright 1983 NBAE (Photo by NBA Photo Library/NBAE via Getty Images)
Tom Chambers may be best known as the first star player to switch teams when the NBA instituted unrestricted free agent after the 1987-88 season, jumping from the Seattle SuperSonics to their division rivals, the Phoenix Suns.
He proved worth the investment.
Chambers was a two-time All-NBA pick with Phoenix, helping them rise immediately from the bottom of the Western Conference to two straight Western Conference Finals appearances.
He was one of many rookies the San Diego Clippers gave up on too soon. The Clippers took Chambers eighth overall out of Utah in the 1981 NBA Draft and traded him two seasons later to the Sonics, where he blossomed into a star.
Chambers transitioned to the sixth man role when Phoenix acquired Charles Barkley in 1992 and was a productive bench player for their NBA Finals club in 1993 before signing with the Utah Jazz as a backup to Karl Malone for two seasons.
He tried to come back to the NBA in 1997 after playing a year in Israel, but a bad back cut those plans short and he retired in December of that year after one game with the Philadelphia 76ers.
In 16 NBA seasons, Chambers averaged 18.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 30.6 minutes per game, shooting 46.8 percent overall.
But over his 10 seasons with Seattle and Phoenix, he was at 20.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.3 boards in 32.9 minutes.
Chambers is 34th on the NBA all-time list with 5,066 made free throws and 36th with 6,274 attempts from the line, while ranking 43rd in scoring with 20,049 career points and a dubious 20th with 3,742 fouls.
He is the only player with 20,000 career points not already in the Hall of Fame.