When the New York Knicks traded away big man Tyson Chandler and point guard Raymond Felton in late June to the Dallas Mavericks, team president Phil Jackson talked about wanting to “change some of the chemistry” in the locker room.
Chandler took offense to what he basically considers character assassination from his old team, and says all he did was try to bring harmony to the Big Apple’s bumbling franchise. Per ESPN:
“I did nothing but try to help the culture there the three years I was there,” Chandler said Friday. “You can say I didn’t live up to whatever or you didn’t like the way I played or anything. But to ever question who I am and the type of leader I am in the locker room, I don’t even know where that came from.
“I honestly don’t know where that came from. I don’t know if Phil put that out there or who put that out there, but to me, that was the ultimate shock. And you don’t have to say that to get rid of me or to trade me. The trade is over.
“So to judge my character and what I’ve done, you can go look at all my teammates and ask all of my teammates in the past, and the coaches I’ve played for, and I’ve never been a problem and never had a problem. So that was a shock to me that I didn’t appreciate.”
