Tyson Cleotis Chandler (born October 2, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player and coach.
Chandler was drafted directly out of high school as the second overall pick of the 2001 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers, then was immediately traded to the Chicago Bulls. He has also played for the New Orleans Hornets, Charlotte Bobcats, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers. As starting center for Dallas, he played an integral role in the franchise's first NBA championship in 2011.
Chandler was named to the NBA All-Defensive Team three times. While with New York, he was voted the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2012, when he was also named to the All-NBA Third Team. He won gold medals with the US national team in the 2010 FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Early life and high school career
Chandler was born to Frank Chandler and Vernie Threadgill, though he did not meet his father Frank until later in his life. He grew up on a family farm in Hanford, California, just south of Fresno, California. Chandler began playing basketball at the age of three years on a basket Chandler's grandfather, Cleotis, fixed on a tree. Chandler grew up doing farm work such as milking cows, slopping pigs, and cultivating crops. At the age of nine years, Chandler and his mother moved to San Bernardino, California; he was already nearly six feet tall. As a child, Chandler was teased because of his height; children on his school basketball team joked that he was older than he really was, and that he had been left back several times in school.
As a freshman, Chandler enrolled at Dominguez High School in Compton, California, a school known for its athletics, producing basketball players such as Dennis Johnson and Cedric Ceballos. In his freshman year, Chandler made the varsity team and played with future NBA player Tayshaun Prince, who was then a senior. With the Dominguez Dons, Chandler became a teenage sensation; current players such as DeMar DeRozan watched him play and claimed "he was like Shaq". Point guard Brandon Jennings, who was a ball boy for Dominguez at the time, said, "You'd see the girls around Tyson, the Escalade he drove, and you wanted to be like him". Chandler earned accolades from Parade Magazine and USA Today and was selected to the McDonald's High School All-America Team. As a freshman, he was profiled on current affairs TV program 60 Minutes.
In his junior year, Chandler averaged 20 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks. In his senior year, Chandler led Dominguez to a state championship and a 31–4 record, averaging 26 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 blocks a game. Chandler was recruited by several universities and considered UCLA, Arizona, Syracuse, Memphis, Kentucky and Michigan. Chandler then declared for the 2001 NBA draft as a prep-to-pro.
Professional career
Chicago Bulls (2001–2006) Chandler was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the second overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft, before being immediately traded to the Chicago Bulls for former No. 1 overall pick Elton Brand. The Bulls placed their rebuilding efforts on the backs of two teenagers in Chandler and Eddy Curry. Chandler's 2003–04 season saw him appear in a career-low 35 games. He missed two months early in the season with a bad back, before missing the final weeks of the season after landing hard on his back on March 27 against the Atlanta Hawks. In September 2005, Chandler signed a six-year deal with the Bulls. In July 2006, the Bulls looked to deal away Chandler, who had five years and $54 million left on his contract, in order to pursue Ben Wallace.
New Orleans Hornets (2006–2009)
On July 14, 2006, Chandler was traded to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for P. J. Brown and J. R. Smith.
Chandler led the NBA in offensive rebounds in both 2006–07 and 2007–08, ranking second in the league in rebounds per game in 2006–07 and third in rebounds per game in 2007–08. He also ranked second in the NBA in field goal percentage in 2007–08 (.623) and would have led the league at .624 in 2006–07 but fell four field goals short of the statistical minimum to qualify.