NBA coach Chauncey Billups has been arrested as part of an investigation into illegal gambling. His scandal file continues to grow. The basketball legend has a dark past.
Chauncey Billups is part of a massive scandal currently shaking the NBA. The Portland Trail Blazers coach is being linked to illegal poker games involving the mafia.
According to prosecutor Joseph Nocella, Billups is one of 31 people arrested for involvement in a “nationwide scheme to manipulate illegal poker games.”
In the wake of the arrest, the NBA announced that the 49-year-old has been fired by the Blazers. The scandal is another black mark on Billups’ record.
His playing career was brilliant, as he was one of the best point guards in the NBA, became a five-time All-Star, and won the championship in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons against the Los Angeles Lakers.
As MVP of the Finals series, ‘Mr. Big Shot’ stole the show from the superteam featuring Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton.
That he pursued a coaching career after his retirement in 2014 was not surprising.
However, for reasons unrelated to Billups’ athletic merits, a shadow had fallen over his appointment in Portland starting in July 2021.
The reason is the unresolved events of a November night in 1997.
At that time, a rape accusation was made against Billups. This led to a civil lawsuit in 2000, which ended with an out-of-court settlement with the alleged victim.
Billups, then a 21-year-old rookie with the Boston Celtics, never stood before a criminal court, and the case had largely been forgotten during his later career years.
However, public movements like #MeToo changed the perspective on the topic years later, and Billups’ return to the spotlight brought new attention to the dark spot in his past – putting the Trail Blazers under pressure to justify themselves.
When Billups was introduced to the media, his personal history overshadowed all sports-related questions. Both he and General Manager Neil Olshey were prepared for this and faced the media round with a defense strategy – although they reached their limits with it.
The NBA legend explained at the time that not a day goes by “when I don’t think about how every decision we make can have major consequences on a person’s life.”
He said he had “some difficult conversations with my wife – then my girlfriend – and my daughters. About what actually happened and what they might read about me in the news instead.” The “experience” he had back then had “shaped my life on many levels.”
However, more specific follow-up questions from journalists about Billups’ and Olshey’s statements were then blocked.
In fact, there are many unanswered questions in the Billups case, and to this day it remains one person’s word against another’s.
The alleged victim, ex-girlfriend of Billups’ then-teammate Antoine Walker, was with Walker, Billups, teammate Ron Mercer, and other friends of Walker at a comedy club that evening. Afterwards, an assault allegedly occurred in Walker’s apartment in Waltham.
The woman accused Billups and Mercer of being part of a gang rape during which she lost consciousness. She claimed she woke up the next morning naked among used condoms, and a medical examination revealed injuries to her neck, back, and intimate areas, as well as traces of semen.
Like all the other accused, Billups denied the allegation. According to his account, he was not in Walker’s apartment but had consensual oral sex with the woman in a car, and nothing more happened on his part.
A resolution of the unresolved questions that satisfies everyone is unlikely to come.
As of Wednesday, Billups’ scandal file has been expanded by another chapter. What happens next for him remains uncertain.
However, it’s very likely we won’t see him in the NBA again anytime soon.