Tyson Chandler won an NBA championship last year with the Dallas Mavericks.
Now he’s ready to help the Knicks try to win one.
“It just really happened over the last, like, 48 hours,” Chandler said Friday on ESPN’s Dallas radio affiliate of his impending deal to join New York. “I just think the future of the team, being able to play alongside Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and the young talent that we have, I feel like puts us in contention over the next four or five years.”
To create room for Chandler, the Knicks will amnesty point guard Chauncey Billups ($14.2M) and will trade Ronny Turiaf ($4.2M) to the Washington Wizards. The Knicks can also add $3 million to any trade package involving Turiaf.
“Ronny’s been traded to Washington,” his agent, Mark Bartelstein, told SNY.tv Saturday morning.
The 7-foot-1 Chandler will bring a much-needed presence in the paint to Mike D’Antoni’s defensively-challenged club and will allow Stoudemire to play his natural power forward position.
“This is a dream,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said Friday at the Knicks’ practice facility.
“He brings everything we didn’t have,’’ D’Antoni added. “He’ll shore up our defense, rebounding, he’s a great teammate, his intangibles are off the charts. He’s a great complement for Melo and Amar’e in defending. He’s improved his offense every year. He shores everything up and he won a championship.’’
The Knicks beat out the Golden State Warriors for Chandler, who will reportedly sign a four-year, $58 million deal.
“They told us today it was done,’’ Anthony told reporters Friday.
Chandler said it was a business decision to leave Dallas, where he provided tremendous energy to the Dirk Nowitzki-led Mavericks.
“In this situation, signing back with the Mavs, it just didn’t make business sense,” said Chandler, who finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. “Business is business. Sometimes we get upset by it, but in this business, we can’t take it personal.
“I just honestly thank the Mavericks for even bringing me [to Dallas] and giving me the opportunity to do what we did last year.”
