Channing Frye has been playing in the NBA for 14 years, and he will finally be retiring to enjoy life off the court after this season. While many may think he’s retiring due to age, it actually has to do with the family Frye has developed off the court.
Speaking to Chris Fedor of cleveland.com earlier this week, Frye told a story about how he was with his family in Puerto Rico during the All-Star break, and how it made him realize he was ready to retire:
“The straw that broke the camel’s back, I was on vacation,” Frye said. “I went to Puerto Rico with my kids and I saw our best friends who live down there and their kids are 12, 11, 10. My son is eight now. I’m like, ‘I want to go his practice and not have to worry about my practice.’ I want to make time for them.”
Frye went on to describe how, when you’re a young player in the league, things are often done with selfishness in mind, but it’s when you have a family that the perspective on things change:
“What some of these young fellas don’t understand is your whole life is on a selfish bubble, what’s best for you, what you want to do. For me it took a while, but my dad instinct, and my husband and family guy kicked in. What can I do for my family? Money is awesome, but at this point I’ve had enough people either die or go away through relationships that couldn’t get kept up. That’s what’s most important, making something outside of basketball.”
According to Fedor, Frye has been considering retirement for some time now, but has struggled to walk away from the game he has played for 14 years. Frye chose to sign a one-year deal with the Cavs because of his history with the team (Frye won a championship in 2016 with the team) and because he felt he could still contribute.
“I wanted to retire a Cav,” Frye said. “I didn’t know what was going to happen this summer so I wanted to make sure I’m controlling my own destiny and going out the way I wanted to go out.”
Now, Channing Frye is going out on his own terms, and he will be able to say that he is not only a championship-winning player, but a player that did things his own way.