NBA Teams Rumored to Have Interest in Detroit Pistons Legend
Since his playing days with the Detroit Pistons, Chauncey Billups has transitioned to a role in coaching. Roughly six years after his second and final stint with Detroit, Billups joined the Los Angeles Clippers bench in 2020.
All it took was one season as an assistant before Billups earned himself a seat in the boss’s chair. When the Portland Trail Blazers cut the coord on the Terry Stotts tenure, Billups took over.
To say Billups’ time in Portland has been a struggle would be an understatement. When he took over at the start of the end of the Damian Lillard era, the Blazers wrapped up the 2021-2022 season with a 27-55 record.
In 2022-2023, the Blazers got slightly better, but not by much. They finished the season with a 33-49 record, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.
After trading Lillard ahead of the 2023-2024 season, it was clear the Blazers were declaring a rebuild. That showed in their record, as 21-61 had them placed last in the Western Conference.
Over a month into the offseason for Portland, Billups remains as the team’s head coach. However, SI’s National Insider Chris Mannix reports that teams are eyeing the situation closely as there is a growing belief Billups could be out of Portland soon.
“Billups, 47, recently completed his third season as the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. He received a vote of confidence from general manager Joe Cronin last month but last week the organization chose not to renew the contracts of two of Billups’s assistants, including Billups’s younger brother, Rodney. With Billups entering the last year of his contract—Portland has a team option for the 2025–26 season—there has been speculation inside rival front offices that Portland and the head coach could part ways.”
If the Blazers planned to move on from Billups as early as this season, making a decision sooner than later would likely be more beneficial as they reach critical moments of the offseason. In the event they keep him around for a fourth season, it’s clear Billups could be coaching for his job in 2024-2025.
And if it doesn’t work out between Billups and Portland, Mannix suggests Billups would “immediately emerge” as a candidate for other teams.
Recently, the Brooklyn Nets and the Charlotte Hornets concluded their search for a new head coach. The Phoenix Suns are next in line, as they parted ways with Frank Vogel on Thursday.
Portland has yet to make a change, but they are a team to keep an eye on in the future, as the Pistons legend hasn’t found much success with the young roster.
JUSTIN GRASSO