Tyson Chandler: Baller, Gentleman, Artist? All Of The Above!

GlobalGrind caught up with Dallas Maverick and Team USA Basketball champion Tyson Chandler yesterday in the offices of design legend Joseph Abboud, minutes after taking a look at the design boards for ArgyleCulture, the Russell Simmons brand Abboud will be designing for Fall 2012.

STORY: Brandon Jennings Named Curator Of Cool At Under Armour!

At seven feet, one inch tall, Chandler, 29, is a marvel to behold on and off the court.

He is graceful, talkative, quick to smile and easily shares his thoughts about fashion and art. In addition to sharing with us his frustrations finding clothes that fit, Tyson also revealed his love of art, his thoughts on the NBA lockout and designing his own clothes. 

Here's some of what the 2011 NBA Champion, husband and father of three told us before heading downtown to Printed Matter to scoop up all the copies of his 'zine!

GlobalGrind: In your meeting with Joseph [Abboud] you talked about designing your own clothes. Can you talk about that a little more?

Tyson Chandler: Each individual has a unique sense of fashion, it is just putting everything together! The difficult thing for me was being 7’1”. I haven’t been able to find products that I can identify with, to be able to put on a shirt and say, this is Tyson Chandler.

I got together with my buddy Boswell, who designs suits, and I asked him if he can just start making me some everyday stuff, some button up shirts, some sweaters and some jackets that I can wear so I can start putting pieces together. We sat down and started to design some stuff. It went from there. 

Above: Tyson at the 2011 ESPY Awards.