NEW YORK — On June 29, 2021, Chauncey Billups sat down in front of the media at the Portland Trail Blazers practice facility to detail his vision of getting the team back to competing for championships, even though Portland had made the postseason in each of the eight seasons before his arrival (making one Western Conference Finals appearance).
During the press conference, Billups, the Blazers new head coach, and Neil Olshey, the team’s president of basketball operations, were asked about the vetting process that led the five-time All Star to the position held by only 29 other men in the NBA.
That vetting process included Billups being asked about an incident in 1997, when he was a member of the Boston Celtics, the team that drafted him third overall that year after a stellar collegiate career at Colorado.
Billups and teammates Ron Mercer and Antoine Walker were sued after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman at Walker’s home. Authorities did not press charges, and Billups settled the civil suit three years later.
Billups addressed those allegations that very day, and he had no idea how prophetic those words would be years later.
“This experience has shaped my life in so many different ways. My decision-making, obviously, who I allow to be in my life, the friendships and the relationships that I have, and how I go about them. It’s impacted every decision that I make,’ he said during the Blazers press conference.
Now, the 49-year-old Billups is making headlines again after federal authorities arrested and charged him with money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy, alleging that the former NBA Finals MVP participated in and helped organize a rigged 2019 poker game where players were ripped off.
He is also identified as a co-conspirator by federal authorities – but has not been charged – in an illegal betting scheme where he allegedly provided insider information that enabled gamblers to bet against the Trail Blazers.
For now, all that Billups has accomplished on a basketball court is secure, including his 2024 induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. There is no precedent for the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, to remove a member after they have been enshrined.
His No. 1 jersey has also been retired by the Detroit Pistons, a team he played for during two separate stints over eight seasons and helped lead to the 2004 NBA championship over the heavily favored Los Angeles Lakers, where he was named the series’ Most Valuable Player.
Billups was well aware of what was coming in that initial press conference in 2021, and the next time he speaks publicly – or, in his case, a resolution is reached – he will have to face the music again, with his once-respected legacy hanging by a thread.
“We knew we would have to address (the allegations), but this is my dream job,” Billups had said about beating out 20 other candidates to become the Trail Blazers coach.
Now, that dream job is in serious jeopardy, as he has already been placed on leave by the NBA and awaits a Nov. 24 court date in Brooklyn to answer the charges from the Eastern District of New York.
The bombshell sports story of the year is the backdrop of Friday night’s contest at Madison Square Garden, between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks, two of the seven teams Billups suited up for during his 17-year career.
The Oct. 24 game also brought out NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who addressed the scandal that has also ensnared Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones, reintroduced the mafia to the news, and consumed the league for the past two days.
‘My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed,’ Silver said in an interview during Amazon Prime’s broadcast of the game. ‘There’s nothing more important to the league and the fans than the integrity of the competition. So, I had a pit in my stomach, it was very upsetting.’
Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, a vice president of the National Basketball Players Association since 2019, blasted the league, saying that the NBA has not prepared or protected players to help them navigate the murky waters since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the sports betting law in 2018.
“I don’t think once, from my conversations with the union, that the NBA has been like, ‘How can we protect players more with the environment?” Brown said. ‘There’s been little to no conversation around that. It’s all about, a lot of times, ‘How can we increase business and increase revenue?’ I don’t think we’re having enough conversations about what is the aftermath or the consequences that some of that stuff has.’
When asked, the two head coaches of Friday’s game, the Knicks’ Mike Brown and Joe Mazzulla of the Celtics, did not provide much context in their answers.
‘All that stuff’s above my head. I don’t feel like I’m privy or intelligent enough to talk about [it] because it’s a lot of this and that I don’t know about. I know it’s a league matter and the league has programs for the guys.’ Brown said.
Mazzulla says betting puts pressure on the league’s players, but said he doesn’t hear a lot of heckling from fans about betting. He added that the Celtics and the NBA do an adequate job of informing league personnel about the rules regarding gambling.
“There’s two sides to every coin,” Mazzulla said. “There is always a benefit and a consequence. It’s obviously generated a lot of attention, income and entertainment. With something good always comes with decisions and choices. That’s just a part of life.”
Billups’ life has changed once again, and the NBA and its players have been put on notice about protecting the integrity of the league.
The question remains: is anyone going to listen, despite the consequences, which would include loss of income, reputational harm, and making fans, already skeptical, not trust what they are watching?
“I’m not sure what the answer is, but definitely something that people have to spend more time having conversations about,” Brown said. ‘It creates a negative discourse around the game and players when people have money involved. It’s leading to situations that we can avoid if more conversations were had right now.’