At the end of the season, we’ll close the chapter on some truly legendary NBA careers. Dwyane Wade is officially retiring, and it might very well be the last go-around for Dirk Nowitzki and Vince Carter, though the former refuses to say definitively one way or the other, while the latter is leaving the door open for what would be a record-breaking return.
Although a bit lower down the totem pole in terms of his career resume, Channing Frye has likewise announced that he plans on hanging up his sneakers at the end of the season. The 13-year journeyman has played for six different teams and was a member of the history-making Cavs squad that overcame a 3-1 deficit to win the 2016 title.
Frye seems acutely aware of how some people perceive him, so you’ll have to forgive him if he is a bit salty toward those how would try and diminish his many accomplishments throughout his NBA career. Frye himself has a healthy perspective on it all, choosing to focus on the positives that have resulted along the way.
Via Joe Vardon of The Athletic:
How would he like to be remembered?
“I was a great teammate and I love all my teammates, and then No. 2 is I’m a champion,” Frye said, seated on a bench chair inside San Antonio’s AT&T Center one morning last week. “So I don’t care if anyone says I suck, because I don’t. If they’re like well, you’re not playing now, that happens to everybody.
“Listen, I’m rich, I’m a champion, I’m 35 and retiring and I’m living a great life. So, if you think I suck, I’ll see you at L.A. fitness in a year, motherf-cker.”
That last message was a favorite of some of Frye’s current and former teammates, as Kevin Love, LeBron James, Jordan Clarkson, and others all got a big kick out of it on Twitter.
Just gonna leave this here… pic.twitter.com/wmj2rOStu7
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) April 2, 2019
🤣🤣🤣🤣!! Man I love that guy so much‼️‼️‼️ https://t.co/EbFaeyUjyR
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 2, 2019
https://twitter.com/JordanClarksons/status/1113161956297388032
We can only hope that Frye, like Brian Scalabrine before him, will gladly take on all challengers at the local gym who think they can compete with him and proceed to categorically destroy them all.
Frye made an admirable career out of being a versatile stretch-four at a time when the league was quickly transitioning to the space-and-pace era that we see today. He’s also overcome life-threatening health issues that nearly derailed his career entirely. In short, Frye has plenty to be proud of, and any efforts to undermine that are simply petty and small-minded.
