Phoenix Suns: 5 Takeaways From Exit Interviews

3. Tyson Chandler Will Re-Evaluate His Future With The Suns

When the Suns first brought Tyson Chandler aboard, it was with the intention of landing LaMarcus Aldridge in free agency. When that fell through, playoff aspirations eventually dissolved and Chandler’s importance on the roster shifted from helping Phoenix win games to helping the youngsters develop.

"“He’s just the ultimate professional,” McDonough said. “As you can imagine there was a decent amount of interest in Tyson before the trade deadline and we had a pretty honest conversation with him about what he wanted after going through a second difficult season in a row in terms of wins and losses.”"

Chandler was averaging 8.4 points and 11.5 rebounds per game on 67.1 percent shooting before he was shut down after the All-Star break.

He clearly still has plenty left in the tank, and at his age, most players are hoping to land on a title contender and make one last championship push before their time in the league is done. So why would Chandler want to stay in Phoenix with a rebuilding franchise?

"“I like the young talent here,” Chandler said. “I think we have a couple of guys here that really have the capability and the potentital to carry a franchise. The potential and the good spirit and the guys that are just willing to learn. They kind of become your young brothers and it makes a decision like that difficult. So when I had to opportunity to leave, it just didn’t feel right to leave these guys halfway through the journey.”"

Not leaving at the trade deadline under that kind of mindset makes sense, but for a guy who said he wants to play for 20 years in this league, sitting out the final 25 games of the season might have changed things.

However, Chandler has seen this type of situation before, where the veterans pave the way for a team’s younger players to get hands-on experience, and he learned a lot from being on the other end of it during his early years with the Chicago Bulls.

"“I was once on the other side of it,” he said. “I remember with Charles Oakley and Scottie Pippen and those guys sat out later in the year for myself, and Jamal Crawford was there at the time, Brad Miller and Kirk Hinrich, so for all of us to develop. We took our lumps at the end of the season. “It was pretty much identical to this situation where we lost a bunch of close games. But next season we came back and we ended up making the playoffs because we had that experience and we had a bunch of film to break down and we were able to see ourselves and the mistakes that we made.”"

For a player who’s already won an NBA championship, a gold medal and a Defensive Player of the Year Award, staying with his new, young brothers in Phoenix still has some allure for Chandler.

However, that’s not to say the future is set in stone for him either. Alex Len‘s restricted free agency will be one factor to keep an eye on, but Chandler mentioned that he will re-evaluate his situation over the summer.

"“Now that the season’s over I have the summer to analyze things and think about things,” he said. “I think with a few tweaks and some pieces here and there on the roster, I feel like this franchise and this team could be in the mix, and at that point it would be pointless for me to go elsewhere.”"

But what kind of tweaks is Chandler looking for?

"“A couple pieces, a couple more veterans, a couple middle-of-the-pack guys around here,” he said. “I think the young talent is here, the core is here. We have a high draft pick, so seeing what that’s gonna be could also bring some help. We’ll see how it plays out.”"

That’s not quite the same ringing endorsement Chandler had been giving the Suns up to this point, but there’s no question he thinks highly of the young talent.

What remains to be seen is whether McDonough is willing to add some of those middle-tier veterans to make the team better when the roster is clearly all in on the youth movement.