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No one likes to be replaced. If on your way to work today, you got a text from a coworker to tell you that he or she is watching your boss court someone to take your place, you'd be angry too.
Put yourself in that position. You think you're doing a good job. Your boss has even expended a lot of hot air telling you they love the work you do and hope to work together for a long time to come.
But then there they are, bringing in some young hotshot with a better resume and bigger salary demands. You can't argue with their logic, per se, but you feel betrayed.
What's the first thing that goes through your mind? You betcha: update that resume and log in to Monster.com.
That's exactly what Tyson Chandler did. He immediately started taking free agency phone calls and agreed to a deal with the Phoenix Suns less than 12 hours after finding out the Mavericks began heavily courting DeAndre Jordan to replace him.
"I didn't feel like I needed to play second fiddle to anybody," Chandler said Wednesday before the Suns-Mavericks game. "I felt like I didn't deserve that. I felt like I'd accomplished a lot in this league and I wasn't going to play second fiddle to anybody."
Chandler said he was caught by surprise with the way the Mavericks played their cards in free agency. But he understands as well as anybody that it is a business and owners can make the decisions they want.
Chandler picked the Suns quickly. It was a good situation for him - a guaranteed starting spot for a younger team on its way up. He said all the right things, and even went out of his way to help the Suns recruit more players to the team.
But it was also important to Chandler to move on quickly. He wasn't about to sit around and wait for the Mavericks to finish their courtship with someone else. As soon as he got a whiff of stink, he turned his head toward greener pastures.
I'm sure Markieff Morris wished he could have done the same to the Phoenix Suns.
Markieff Morris, the Suns erstwhile starting power forward, caught the same stinky whiff Chandler did, except Morris was already under long term contract. The Suns tried to sign LeMarcus Aldridge (with Chandler's help) in the opening days of free agency. Aldridge definitely have replaced Morris in the Suns' plans.
Morris has said since then that he was mad at a lot of things - the trade of his brother being a major one - but he was also angry at the Suns for turning on him.
"If you are going to do something, do it," Markieff Morris said. "The GM, I've been there longer than him, the coaches, everybody. I've been there the longest, and I don't get the respect to be like, 'Yo Keef, we are going to trade your brother. You are our future power forward.' I'm the future power forward. I'm the premier player of the team. ... That's just how business is done I guess."
So while he was angry at the Suns for trading his brother, he was also angry at the potential of being shipped out himself for a better model.
LaMarcus Aldridge is kind of the super-Keef of the NBA. Aldridge loves the midrange, working the post for an array of scoring angles while the defender stay between him and the basket, just like Morris. Aldridge is just better: a regular 20/10 producer compared to Morris' 15/6.
Neither the Mavericks nor the Suns got their man though. Jordan returned to the Clippers while Aldridge picked the Spurs, leaving the Suns and Mavs holding their roses.
But the Suns were the ones who came out ahead between the two teams. The Suns signed Chandler and kept Morris as their starting big men, while the Mavericks settled on Zaza Pachulia to play next to Dirk Nowitzki in his fading years.
It's no wonder the first player Markieff Morris spoke to when the mandatory reporting date arrived was Tyson Chandler.
"We just had the conversation," Morris said on Media Day of Tyson Chandler. "This is his 15th season. He's seen a lot, done a lot. We are super-excited to have him. I think he's gonna help us out a lot in the locker room...showing us the way."
Certainly, Chandler started with commiserating over being second-fiddle to their teams during free agency this year. While Morris wouldn't give any credit to the Suns' logic of team-building, Chandler's been around long enough to know where he fits in the bigger scheme.
"It's his team, he owns it," Chandler said of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. "And he can make any move that he wants to make. You're always not going to agree."
That's exactly the perspective Morris needs to take.
Chandler was able to leave this time, but he's been in Morris' shoes before too. Back in New Orleans, they tried to trade him midseason only see the trade fall through because he failed a physical. He was able to play just fine, and ended up being a professional and finishing a very good year in New Orleans despite the disrespect.
So he can tell Morris that once the games start, its time to just suck it up and play. All you can do is play, and your teammates will be there to back you up.
"I think all this stuff will be behind him," Chandler said of Morris. "This isn't the first time a player has had miscommunication with management or any things like that. It's not going to be the last time it happens. In our league, it seems to always work itself out and I feel like this won't be any different."
But that doesn't mean you ever forgive the front office that tried to replace you. Chandler just spoke this week how he's still mad at the Mavericks.
What hurt was the fact that he didn't get a chance to build on what he'd started in Dallas.
"When all of it was happening, quite honestly, it wasn't about the money or the offer or anything like that," he said. "The part I was frustrated with is the legacy I wanted to leave here with this city and organization. At the time, I felt like I was robbed of that. That's what hurt the most. It took awhile to get over that, to be quite honest."
Now paired up with the Suns, Chandler and Morris can play the game to the best of their abilities and not worry about what the front office wants to do with the roster.
As Chandler says, it all works itself out. Chandler went to other teams and ended with a championship in Dallas, a gold medal in the Olympics and All-Star and All-NBA nods. All along, he's been in the playoffs 7 of the last 8 years.
Now he and Morris can try to carry their team to the playoffs in the rugged West.
"I've been on a couple talented teams," Morris said. "But I think, you know, this probably is our best team with the addition of Tyson and a couple other guys. I think we can definitely make a big step this year."
As long as the drama stays in the background, the Suns have a better chance to succeed.