Report: Pistons will retire Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace’s numbers
The Detroit Pistons will honor Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace this season by retiring their numbers, according to the the Detroit Free Press.
Sources told the Free Press that the former players will be honored at two separate game ceremonies. The dates have not yet be solidified.
Billups was selected third overall out of the University of Colorado by the Boston Celtics in the 1997 NBA draft and went on to play 17 seasons in the league. He spent six seasons with the Pistons before being traded to the Denver Nuggets for Allen Iverson in Nov. 2008.
Billups returned to the the Pistons for the ’13-14 season for his final stint in the NBA. With the Pistons, Billups earned the title of MVP for the 2004 Finals.
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Wallace signed with the Washington Bullets (now the Washington Wizards) as an undrafted free agent in 1996. He spent six seasons with the Pistons from ’00–06 before playing for the Bulls and the Cavs.
He returned to the Pistons for the final three seasons of his career. Known as “Big Ben,” Wallace was named Defensive Player of the Year four times.
Stanley Johnson currently wears Wallace’s No. 3 and Reggie Jackson wears Billups’s No. 1.
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The Pistons are 2–0 to start the season. They take on the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.
- Xandria James
