DALLAS -- The collision with Charlotte point guard Kemba Walker that caused Tyson Chandler so much physical pain and emotional agony could be considered a blessing in disguise for the big man.
The X-rays that early November 2013 night showed a small nondisplaced fracture in Chandler's right fibula. It took a little longer to determine, but it turned out that the New York Knicks' playoff hopes were essentially shattered when Chandler went down. And the frustration of a failed season led to cracks in Chandler's relationship with the franchise.
That collision ended up being the first step in Chandler's return to the Dallas Mavericks, who face the Knicks on Wednesday at the American Airlines Center. If New York's season hadn't turned into such a disaster, the Knicks wouldn't have deemed Chandler to be so expendable over the summer, when new team president Phil Jackson cited a desire to change the chemistry of the franchise as the primary motivating factor for shipping Chandler to Dallas in a six-player deal.
Chandler doesn't want to test injury karma, so he won't go so far as to say he benefited from his broken leg. But the dirty-work hero of Dallas' 2011 title run couldn't be happier that the path led back to a home he never wanted to leave in the first place and a franchise where he fits so well on and off the floor.
"I look at life as like everything happens for a reason," Chandler told ESPNDallas.com after recently handing out Thanksgiving dinners to single-parent families in need at the Vogel Alcove in south Dallas. "There's no mistakes made. At the time, [the injury] was devastating clearly, but I feel like everything happens for a reason."
No mistakes made? Well, plenty of Mavs fans would argue otherwise, pointing to owner Mark Cuban's calculated risk to value salary-cap space over keeping Chandler and other core members of that title team after the 2011 lockout.
The plan didn't work out how the Mavs' front office hoped. Dallas failed to land one of its targeted big fish in free agency, swinging and missing on Deron Williams (kind of a check swing, actually) and Dwight Howard and never even getting a chance to throw a pitch to Chris Paul.
The debate will always rage in Dallas about whether that team full of high-mileage veterans would have had a legitimate chance to repeat in a lockout-condensed season. But there should be no doubt that the Mavs are better off this season because of that decision.
If Chandler's contract was on the books in the summer of 2013, the Mavs wouldn't have had cap room for Monta Ellis. Dallas can't claim that Ellis was a Plan A target, but the Mavs are certainly glad they got him, as he immediately clicked as a pick-and-pop partner with Dirk Nowitzki last year and now leads the 10-5 Mavs in scoring.
With Ellis and Nowitzki as co-stars, the Mavs made the playoffs last season after a one-year absence, pushing the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs to seven games in the first round. Their hopes are much higher this season thanks in large part to the presence of a springy center who meshes with the Mavs just as phenomenally well as he did during his first, too-brief stint in Dallas.
"What he brings to us with his enthusiasm, with his wanting to be held accountable, holding his teammates accountable, general overall energy -- there aren't many guys that bring that on a consistent basis the way he does," coach Rick Carlisle said. "He's hugely important to us on the floor, in the locker room, you name it."
On the floor, the 32-year-old Chandler has answered any lingering questions about his health as emphatically as he throws down alley-oops, of which there have been plenty. He's averaging 10.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game and ranks third in the NBA in field-goal percentage (69.7).
The fiery, 7-foot-1 Chandler provides Dallas the interior defensive presence this offense-intensive roster so desperately needs. He's arguably as valuable on the offensive end. His pick-setting and rebounding create increased and improved looks for the Mavs' scorers, and Chandler's ability to catch and finish high above the rim puts opposing defenses in a bind with Nowitzki's shooting and Ellis' penetration requiring so much attention.
In short, he fills a long list of holes the Mavs had during his three seasons in New York, when their Howard hopes turned into the harsh reality of a revolving door at center, with Brendan Haywood, Chris Kaman and Samuel Dalembert taking turns as the primary starters.
No wonder the Mavs are still searching for their first playoff series win since sipping Champagne in South Beach, huh?
In the locker room, Chandler stepped right back into the role of spiritual leader he had on the championship team. He typically addresses the team before each game, at halftime and often after the game.
If a Dallas player has done something wrong, Chandler will tell him about it if he determines it necessary, a no-bull approach embraced by the Mavs. He expects his teammates to hold him to the same standard of accountability.
"His communication is next to no other than I've ever seen in my 17 years," Nowitzki said. "When he makes a mistake, he wants to hear it. He wants to communicate about it and get better and put it behind him. He's been amazing."
That opinion apparently isn't shared in the Knicks' locker room. Jackson's chemistry jabs were followed up by star Carmelo Anthony and other Knicks making comments about the lack of finger pointing in New York this season, which could be perceived as passive-aggressive pokes at Chandler.
How can Chandler be considered a great leader by one team and an outcast by another?
"It made perfect sense," said Cuban, who hopes to keep Chandler when his contract expires this summer. "If there's organizational issues or whatever was happening, then somebody who's trying to rally the guys, if the guys aren't buying it, it's going to be disruptive. Everybody's got to buy it for it to work."
Or, as Chandler put it: "I think people can take it differently and make it what they want to make it. It also depends on where your mind is. If everybody is locked in and they want to win and they know I'm in it 100 percent and they're in it 100 percent, nobody's sensitive. But if there's other agendas, it's going to make things sensitive."
Chandler might still be a bit of a sensitive subject for the Knicks. But a quick glance at the standings -- the 10-5 Mavs fighting for playoff position in the loaded West, the 4-11 Knicks destined to play for pingpong balls in the weak East -- suggests that Chandler probably wasn't the problem in New York last season.
The Knicks' eagerness to get rid of Chandler was a great break for the Mavs.