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Chauncey Billups had earned a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame a year earlier in recognition of his resiliency and clutch play in winning a championship. nba Livelihood.
His ability to bounce back and make all the right moves is being tested by a gambling scandal of an entirely different kind.
Billups, who was placed on leave as coach of portland trail blazersHe was one of more than 30 people arrested last week for what federal law enforcement officials described as their involvement in various illegal gambling activities. Koch was accused of participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes poker games with ties to three Mafia families. He also matched the credentials of someone described as Co-Conspirator 8 in the indictment, which described how some people gave inside information about the player’s health condition to bookmakers.
Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, said in outlining the charges, “My message to the defendants who have been arrested today is this: Your winning streak is over.”
Billups’ alleged involvement was surprising for a man with an excellent reputation, who earned the NBA’s Sportsmanship Award in 2009 while playing for his hometown Denver Nuggets.
los angeles clippers Coach Tyronn Lue, who calls Billups his best friend, said he spoke to Billups the day he was arrested and was encouraged by what he heard during the conversation.
detroit Pistons coach JB Bickerstaff said he hates to see what Billups is going through as his friend since middle school.
“I think everybody needs to let the due process happen and then obviously decisions can be made,” Bickerstaff said Sunday. “You feel for someone you know and have a relationship with and know their family well.
“I know he’s going through it,” she said. “It’s a tough time for him.”
‘Pressure is nothing new to me’
Billups, who is married and has three daughters, was arrested at his home in Oregon before dawn last Thursday. A few hours earlier, the Trail Blazers had lost their season opener to Minnesota on their home field. After the end of its fifth season portlandBillups was asked if he felt pressure as the franchise’s new ownership group took over the game.
“The pressure thing ain’t nothing to me, man,” Billups said in his last public comments on October 22.
Billups appeared before a judge in Oregon and was released from custody on conditions. His lawyer Chris Haywood denied the allegations.
Haywood said, “To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would jeopardize his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom.” “He wouldn’t risk those things for anything, let alone a game of cards.”
Billups, 49, grew up in Denver’s Park Hill neighborhood and starred in college for the Colorado Buffaloes.
Boston drafted him No. 3 overall in 1997 and he bounced around the league, being traded twice during his rookie year over the next two years.
Billups signed with Minnesota as a free agent in 2000 and after two solid seasons, he leveraged his value to sign a $35 million, six-year contract with the Pistons.
Billups was known as Mr. Big Shot
He was known as Mr. Big Shot due to his ability to make clutch shots in the Motor City, where he made his mark as a player and later had his No. 1 Pistons jersey retired as one of the most popular players in any sport at Michigan.
Billups led Detroit to its third NBA championship in 2004 and to the NBA Finals the following year during six consecutive appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Pistons later traded him to Denver for his second stint with the franchise. After Billups played for the New York Knicks and Clippers, he finished his five-time All-Star career in Detroit during the 2013–14 season, earning over $100 million.
Billups began his career as a TV analyst the following year, a role he left to pursue a coaching career with the Clippers under Lue. He was hired as Portland’s coach in 2021 and signed a multi-year extension with the Trail Blazers last April and has a career record of 117-212 as a coach in the league.
In response to the arrests of Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier for their alleged roles in gambling schemes, the NBA has begun a review of how the league can protect not only the integrity of the game but also its players and coaches.
The league made the revelations in a memo sent to all 30 teams, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
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AP basketball writer Tim Reynolds contributed.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba