Channing Frye is busy draining threes and contending for a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And that could have been Ryan Anderson.
Speaking on the “Vertical Pod with J.J. Redick,” Anderson revealed to his former Orlando Magic teammate that the New Orleans Pelicans nearly traded his expiring contract to the Cavaliers at the trade deadline. Brett Dawson delivered the juicy deets over at The Advocate:
As a guest on “The Vertical Podcast” with JJ Redick on Monday, Anderson said he nearly was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers at the trade deadline before Cleveland acquired forward Channing Frye.
“There was a very last-minute phone call that I could have gone to Cleveland,” Anderson said on the podcast. “I would be playing for the Cavs right now.”
Seeing Ryan Anderson in Cleveland would have been something. But Frye makes more sense for the Cavaliers. He is under contract through each of the next two seasons at under $8 million a pop. Anderson would have been a free agent this summer and, as one of the most established stretch bigs in the game not named Dirk Nowitzki, he could command more than twice as much as Frye’s making now.
It’ll be interesting, to that end, to see where Ryan Anderson lands over the offseason. He told Redick, per Dawson, that he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a return to New Orleans, but such a scenario remains beyond unlikely. He mentioned the Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets and Washington Wizards by name—a ridiculously specific list, if you ask me–each of which has a need for a sweet-shooting 4.
Wherever he goes, though, bank on him grabbing between $12 and $16 million annually. These are crazy, cap-rich times we live in folks, and players are going to get two-syllable paid.
