Report: Dan Gilbert offered Chauncey Billups less than half the typical team president salary

Chauncey Billups reportedly turned down the Cavaliers over the lower salary offered by owner Dan Gilbert.

One of the factors in Chauncey Billups’s decision not to take the Cavaliers’ open team president job was the low salary offered by Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, ESPN’s Chris Haynes and Marc J. Spears report.

The typical starting salary for a team president is about $4 million and Billups was initially offered $1.5 million before Gilbert upped the offer to $2 million, according to the report. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday that Billups had turned down the job, though Haynes and Spears report that money was not the only factor in his decision. 

The report also adds new details about former Cavs general manager David Griffin’s departure. Gilbert announced last month that Griffin’s contract would not be renewed, despite LeBron James’s vocal support for the GM. Gilbert reportedly did not consult with James before deciding not to bring Griffin back. Haynes and Spears report that Griffin had “one of the lowest salaries in the league” for a GM at less than $2 million and that he had angled for a pay raise and increased power, which Gilbert shot down. 

The Cavaliers are valued by Forbes at $1.2 billion and Gilbert’s net worth is estimated at $5.9 billion.