National Basketball Association

Report: Channing Frye upset by Suns owner Robert Sarver's criticism

Published Mar. 3, 2015 1:14 p.m. ET

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When Orlando Magic forward Channing Frye signed a 4-year, $32-million deal with his new team, there weren't any indications of animosity between Frye and his former team, the Phoenix Suns. Now that we're a few months into the season, however, Suns owner Robert Sarver apparently has some thoughts about the way in which Frye and the Suns parted ways. Sarver told Arizona Sports 98.7 that Frye, an unrestricted free agent, hardly gave Phoenix a chance to match Orlando's offer this past summer.

That's Frye's prerogative; once an NBA player is free from restricted free agency, he's under no obligation whatsoever to even give his former team the option to match. Frye and the Suns were a good fit, though, so if the two sides could work something out, it would have made sense.

On the other hand, Sarver's recent comments seem to indicate that the Suns had no intention of bringing Frye back, regardless:

"Channing was a good piece of what we did, but I think we're better off now without him because it allows these younger guys to play. It gives more time for Alex and it gives more time for Markieff, and Alex and Markieff, that's the future," he said.

"If our goal is ... to try to make the eighth spot this year or the seventh spot in the playoffs, then you could maybe argue we would've been better off with Channing. But if our goal is really to develop a championship team and get to a point where we can compete for a championship two, three, four years from now, then we've got to let these younger guys play, and we're better off having them play than Channing play from an age standpoint."

Sarver's criticisms have since made their way to Frye, who is reportedly not at all happy with the way the Suns are painting his decision and their perspective moving forward.

Without going into much detail, @OrlandoMagic F @Channing_Frye is highly upset @Suns management criticized him last week for leaving for ORL
— John Denton (@JohnDenton555) March 3, 2015