Chauncey Billups

Did You Know?

• Billups was a three-time Colorado Mr. Basketball in high school.
• He led the Colorado Buffaloes to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 28 years.
• Billups was featured on the cover of the video game NBA Ballers: Phenom.

Professional career

Billups was selected third overall in the 1997 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. In his first career game, he recorded 15 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists in a win against the Bulls. In his eighth game, he posted a then career-high 22 points in a win over the Raptors. He later commented that his stint in Boston was a "recipe for disaster" because the coaching staff did not know whether to play him as a point guard or shooting guard.

Fifty-one games into his career, he was traded to the Toronto Raptors on the trade deadline. In his second game with Toronto, he recorded a then career-high 27 points in a win over the Vancouver Grizzlies. He was dealt to the Denver Nuggets in January 1999 in a three-way deal. Three months into his first tenure with the Nuggets, he visited a local Denver hospital to comfort a victim of the Columbine High School shooting. In February 2000, he was traded to the Orlando Magic.

National team career

Billups was selected for the 2006–2008 USA Men's Senior National Team program. He missed the 2006 FIBA World Championship for personal reasons but played in the 2007 FIBA Americas Championship, where Team USA went unbeaten and earned a spot in the Beijing Olympics. He declined to compete for a spot on the Olympic squad in 2008, citing family reasons. In 2010, he was named to the US team that won gold at the FIBA World Championship, averaging 9.8 points and 2.6 assists per game.

Personal life

Billups and his wife have three daughters. His younger brother, Rodney, was a point guard for the University of Denver before coaching the Denver Pioneers. Billups is a first cousin of running back LenDale White. He wore number 4 in high school and college out of admiration for former Pistons guard Joe Dumars. The Denver Broncos are his favorite NFL team. In 2008, he attended a Barack Obama rally. A mural of Billups, tied to his "Chauncey's Kid Roundup" program, hangs in the Coors Events Center.

Controversies

In 1997, Chauncey Billups and former Boston Celtics teammate Ron Mercer were named in a civil lawsuit accusing them of raping a woman at Antoine Walker's home. The woman's medical exam the next day showed injuries supporting her account. No criminal charges were ever brought, but Billups and Mercer settled the lawsuit in 2000. Before the Portland Trail Blazers hired him as head coach, the team said it looked into the allegation and decided it did not bar him from the job.

On October 23, 2025, the FBI arrested Billups as part of a federal gambling probe. His arrest involved an illegal poker ring linked to organized crime, though authorities said it had nothing to do with his coaching. Over 30 people faced charges in the investigation, which implicated members of several New York crime families. The scheme allegedly used hidden devices like marked-card-reading glasses and a modified shuffling machine to cheat players out of roughly $7 million.