Unrestricted Chambers Signs With the Suns

Tom Chambers became the first unrestricted free agent to go to another National Basketball Assn. team, signing a five-year, multimillion-dollar contract with the Phoenix Suns.

Chambers, 29, a seven-year pro who played out his option last season after five years with the Seattle SuperSonics, was allowed to sign with any NBA team without his former club receiving compensation. The league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement gives unrestricted free-agent status to any player who has been in the league seven years or more and whose second contract has expired.

Chambers, a 6-foot 10-inch forward and most valuable player of the 1987 All-Star game, earned $956,000 last season and reportedly had a four-year, $5 million offer from the SuperSonics.

Chambers averaged 20.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game last season. He has averaged 19.5 points and 6.6 rebounds during regular-season play and 21.6 points in the playoffs.

Chambers originally was signed by the San Diego Clippers in 1981 out of the University of Utah and was traded to Seattle on Aug. 18, 1983 in a multi-player deal.

Terms of the contract with Phoenix were not announced.