NBA Trade Rumors: Tyson Chandler Deal Coming From Phoenix Suns Before NBA Trade Deadline?

NBA trade rumors about Tyson Chandler have steadily increased as the Phoenix Suns continue to struggle. The latest NBA trade rumors reveal that Chandler has lost a lot of value during his first season with the Suns. A report from Yahoo! Sports states that though the Suns would like to deal Chandler before the NBA trade deadline, the demand for the former All-Star center is extremely low. This could make it difficult for the struggling franchise to move him this season.

The Phoenix Suns slipped to 14-35 on the season with a fourth-straight loss. The team has won just one of its last 10 games, and controls the second-worst record in the Western Conference. While this style of play will lead the team to a high pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, it doesn’t give fans hope of making the NBA Playoffs any time soon. It also suggests that getting rid of salaries, like through a Tyson Chandler trade, could help out the team long-term.

Chandler is familiar to NBA trade rumors, as he has already been dealt six times during his NBA career. Almost every stop he had made eventually resulted in a trade, with most of them taking place during the NBA offseason. During 2011, though, the Dallas Mavericks traded him to the New York Knicks in a three-team deal. Now he could be done with the Suns after playing there for only half a season.

Through 40 games this season (just 34 starts), Tyson Chandler is averaging 5.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, and just 0.6 blocks per game. Chandler is down to 23.5 minutes a night, and is shooting only 62.7 percent from the free throw line. Those numbers haven’t translated into many wins for the Suns, predicting that he could be playing in a new city very soon. By the end of the 2015-16 NBA season, Chandler could see playing time with the seventh franchise of his career.

It’s not just his lack of production that has resulted in less interest in recent NBA trade rumors. Chandler also has three more guaranteed salaries on his current contract. It calls for him to be paid $13 million per year, and that could be too much for a team to acquire before the NBA trade deadline. There are also questions about his durability that have started to surface, as Chandler has missed a lot of games in recent years. He did play 75 games for the Dallas Mavericks last year, but his body took a beating in the low post.

A big incentive for the Phoenix Suns to trade Chandler is that it would get the team further under the salary cap for the coming NBA offseason. The Suns have just about $66 million in guaranteed salaries for the 2016-17 NBA season, with a lot of money committed to players the team could deal soon. Before the trade deadline, the Suns could trade Markieff Morris, Alex Len, and Tyson Chandler if another team proves willing to take on those salaries. Morris makes $24 million over the next three seasons, and Len is owed about $5 million next year before becoming a restricted free agent.

At nine games behind the eighth seed in the Western Conference, the Phoenix Suns are basically already eliminated from making the 2016 NBA Playoffs. It could make the team desperate to do something before the NBA trade deadline, as this roster isn’t as good as advertised. With the franchise committed to Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight in long-term deals, the importance of adding a young player or two in the 2016 NBA Draft becomes very important. There are going to be a number of NBA trade rumors involving the Suns over the next two weeks, but can the team convince another franchise to take on some of these salaries?

[Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images]