Gambling probe tests the resilience that helped Chauncey Billups soar to the Basketball Hall of Fame

DETROIT (AP) — Chauncey Billups earned a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame a year ago, recognizing his resilience and clutch play in a championship-winning NBA career.

His ability to bounce back and make all the right moves is being put to an entirely different test by a gambling scandal.

Billups, who was placed on leave as coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, was one of more than 30 people arrested last week for what federal law enforcement officials described as their involvement in various illicit gambling activities. The coach was alleged to have participated in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes poker games with ties to three Mafia families. He also matches the credentials of someone described only as Co-Conspirator 8 in an indictment detailing how some people gave bettors inside information on player health statuses.

“My message to the defendants who’ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended,” Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, said in outlining the charges.

Billups’ alleged involvement was stunning for someone with a sterling reputation, earning 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 with Billups on the day he was arrested and was encouraged by what he heard during the conversation.

Detroit Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he hates to see what Billups is going through as a friend he has had since middle school.

“I think everyone needs to allow due process to happen, and then obviously judgments can be made,” Bickerstaff said on Sunday. “You feel for anyone you’ve known and have a relationship with and know his family well.

“I know he’s going through it,” he added. “It’s a difficult 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. Hours earlier, the Trail Blazers lost their season opener at home to Minnesota. After tipping off his fifth season in Portland, Billups was asked if he felt pressure because the franchise’s new ownership group attended the game.

“That pressure thing is nothing to me, man,” Billups said in his last public comments on Oct. 22. “I do the best I can and let the chips fall where they may. You know that about me by now.”

Billups appeared before a judge in Oregon, and was released from custody on conditions. His attorney, Chris Heywood, denied the allegations.

“To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom,” Heywood said. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”

The 49-year-old Billups 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, getting traded during his rookie year twice more over the next two years.

Billups signed with Minnesota in 2000 as a free agent 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 because of his knack of making clutch shots in the Motor City, where he found his groove as a player and later had his No. 1 Pistons jersey retired as one of the most popular players in any sport in Michigan.

Billups guided Detroit to its third NBA championship in 2004 and the NBA Finals the following year during a run of six straight appearances in the Eastern Conference finals.

The Pistons later traded him to Denver for his second stint with the franchise. After Billups went on to play for the New York Knicks and Clippers, he closed his five-time All-Star career in Detroit during the 2013-14 season with more than $100 million in earnings.

Billups started his career as a TV analyst the next year, a role he gave up 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 117-212 record as an coach in the league.

The NBA, in reaction to the arrests of Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier for their alleged role in gambling schemes, has started a review of how the league can protect not just the integrity of the game but its players and coaches as well.

The league made those 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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