Background and career
Channing Thomas Frye (born May 17, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. A power forward-center, he played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats. He was selected eighth overall by the New York Knicks in the 2005 NBA draft, and was the first college senior to be selected in that draft. He also played for the Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, winning an NBA Championship with the Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals.
Raised Catholic, Frye attended St. Mary's High School in Phoenix, Arizona, where he was rated the No. 98 recruit in the nation by Hoop Scoop and the No. 13 center in the country by Fast Break Recruiting Service. As a junior in 1999–2000, he averaged 15 points, 12 rebounds, nine blocks and six assists per game for coach David Lopez as he led the team to a 26–7 record, a berth in the Class 5A state tournament semi-finals and a No. 19 national ranking by USA Today. As a senior in 2000–01, Frye averaged 22 points, 15 rebounds, six blocks and three assists per game and he led St. Mary's to the 2001 Class 5A state championship with a 30–3 record. He was subsequently named Player of the Year by the Arizona Republic and the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year while earning fourth-team Parade All-America and McDonald's All-America honors.
As a freshman at Arizona in 2001–02, Frye was a key contributor for the Wildcats as he started 25 of 34 games after working his way into the starting lineup by late December and stayed there for the rest of the season. He earned Pac-10 All-Freshman team honors after averaging 9.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 23.9 minutes per game. As a sophomore in 2002–03, Frye was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 selection and earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors on February 27, 2003, following a win over Arizona State. In 32 games (27 starts), he averaged 12.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in 25.4 minutes per game. As a junior in 2003–04, Frye earned first-team All-Pac-10 and USBWA All-District 9 team honors. In 30 games (all starts), he averaged 15.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.1 blocks in 30.3 minutes per game. As a senior in 2004–05, Frye received the University of Arizona's Sapphire Award, which is given to the outstanding senior male student-athlete. He also earned the 2004–05 Pacific-10 Conference Sportsmanship Award. For a second consecutive year, he earned first-team All-Pac-10 and USBWA All-District 9 team honors, as well as first-team NABC All-NCAA District 15 selection. In 37 games (all starts), he averaged 15.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 2.3 blocks in 31.0 minutes per game. Frye finished his four-year career at Arizona with eight double-doubles in 12 NCAA Tournament appearances while registering 93 double-figure-point and 35 double-figure-rebound games.
Frye was selected with the eighth overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft by his hometown the New York Knicks. He scored a season-high 30 points twice during the 2005–06 season. On March 21, 2006, he sprained his left knee ligament in a game against the Toronto Raptors when Raptors guard Andre Barrett lost his balance and smashed his shoulder into Frye's knee, causing Frye to miss the rest of the season. During the 2006–07 season, power forward David Lee led the team in rebounding and field goal percentage, and was statistically superior to Frye in almost every category, but Knicks' head coach Isiah Thomas, until February 3, 2007, kept Frye in the starting lineup. Thomas' rationale was that Frye was a superior perimeter shooter, and his perimeter shooting would make it harder for teams to double team Knicks leading scorer Eddy Curry. On February 3, in a game against the Orlando Magic, Thomas took Frye out of the starting lineup and replaced him with little-used center, Jerome James. James had only appeared in 19 of the Knicks' 48 games, and averaged 2.7 points and 1.9 rebounds in those games. Thomas explained the change, saying, "I think Jerome is one of the best defensive big men in the game in terms of the center position." Frye was selected to the 2005–06 NBA All-Rookie first team, and finished fifth in points (45) behind Chris Paul (58), Charlie Villanueva (56), Andrew Bogut (55), and Deron Williams (46).
On June 28, 2007, Frye was traded, along with Steve Francis, to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Zach Randolph, Fred Jones and Dan Dickau. Frye wore jersey No. 44 after wearing No. 7 with the Knicks, as guard Brandon Roy already wore No. 7 for the Trail Blazers. As a back-up center in 2007–08, Frye averaged 6.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
In September 2008, Frye had surgery to remove bone spurs from his left ankle. He went on to serve as a back-up once again in 2008–09 as he averaged a career-low 4.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
