Cleveland Cavaliers big man Channing Frye is retiring at the end of this season, and with some of his best years being on the Phoenix Suns, it was fitting that the Cavs’ last opponent showed a tribute video of sorts yesterday of Frye.
Channing Frye is not the most known player in the NBA, but fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers love him for how great of a teammate he seems to be, how cool of a guy he is, and for his contributions in the postseason, and even this year reportedly as a mentor on a team that has been very tough to watch much of this year.
Where Frye’s most notable years were as a basketball player came in the state of Arizona, where he was a standout player in high school, in four years of college at the University of Arizona, and as a Sun.
During the first timeout yesterday in Cleveland’s 122-113 loss to Phoenix, the Suns ran a Frye video tribute.
Congrats on a great career @Channing_Frye! pic.twitter.com/wkskLdBsQs
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) April 2, 2019
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Frye and the Cavs seemed to love that, and he touched on what playing this near-end of season game close to his original home meant to him before the game yesterday (as transcribed by Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor), which was a whole lot.
"“It means everything to me,” he said Monday morning when asked about playing in Phoenix. “I grew up a Suns fan, I grew up a guy just wishing I could- I remember sitting up there in high seats with my parents, just watching the game. I remember playing my (5A state) championship game on this court.”“So for me, it’s been a full turnaround to come back here. It’s been amazing. I had a great time here, and I’m just glad to have this opportunity to say goodbye.”"
Frye played for Phoenix for four seasons, where he had his biggest role in the NBA, and posted averages of 11.4 points on 53.5 effective field goal shooting, to go with 5.7 rebounds per game, per Basketball Reference.
Frye has played sparingly this season, given that the Cleveland Cavaliers have wanted to play younger bigs such as Larry Nance Jr., Ante Zizic and more recently, Marquese Chriss considerable reserve minutes.
Frye has only appeared in 34 games this year, in which he’s posted 3.4 points per game in 9.4 minutes, but has been his usual efficient from three-point range, where he’s knocked down 40.3 percent of his triples, per NBA.com.
Yesterday, as Fedor mentioned, Frye banked in a shot from deep close to before he went back to the bench (he played three minutes) “to the crowd’s delight.”
That was fitting, as Frye has shot 38.8 percent in his 13-year-career from deep, per Basketball Reference.
Furthermore, the Suns showing respect to an easygoing team-first player like Frye right before he retires was cool to see as a Cleveland Cavaliers fan, because of how Frye has fully embraced being a role piece, and especially because of how good of a teammate he’s reportedly been. Sticking to that script, it was announced that Frye was named as a finalist for the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award.
In a recent interview with The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, (subscription required) Frye’s happy-go-lucky and uber-positive attitude was ever-apparent, and when asked about how he’d like to be remembered, the veteran Cavs big said first as “a great teammate” and then said as “a champion.”
God I’ll miss Channing.