Blazers News: Chauncey Billups Disputes Claim He Called Veteran Portland's 'Best Player'

Chauncey Billups clears up comments on a key player.

Apr 7, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups reacts to game action against the Boston Celtics during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers acquired forward Deni Avdija from the Washington Wizards on July 6, 2024, while shipping out the 14th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, a 2029 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, a 2030 second-round pick, and guard Malcolm Brogdon. The former first-round selection in 2020 is coming off a season where he recorded a career-high 14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per contest. The most impressive stat from Avdija's 2023-24 campaign was the 50.6 percent he shot from the field coupled with a 37 percent efficiency from the 3-point line.

Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups made headlines throughout the week after a report came out that the former 2003 Finals MVP considered Avdija the best player on the Portland roster. This comment received a number of mixed opinions due to the fact that the Trail Blazers have players as good, if not better than Avdija such as Deandre Ayton, Jerami Grant, and Anfernee Simons.

Billups spoke with reporters on Tuesday to refute the alleged statement that made headlines after the Portland head coach declared that the quote was not true. The former Detroit Pistons legend was on a Sirius XM Radio interview with NBA veteran Sam Mitchell when he claims was misquoted, as Aaron J. Fentress of The Oregonian revealed in a video clip.

Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups clears up report that he called forward Deni Avdija the best player on the team.

“Deni is one of our better players. Don’t get me wrong. But I never said that he was our best player.” - Billups. #ripcity pic.twitter.com/WPrON6gSi1

— Aaron J. Fentress (@AaronJFentress) October 8, 2024

“Yesterday, I was doing an interview on Sirius Radio in the morning with Sam Mitchell and another host, and they had said that,” Billups claimed. “They were like, ‘Yeah, so we heard that you said Deni Avdija is your best player.' I said, ‘I never said that. I don't know where that came from.' Deni is one of our better players; don't get me wrong, but I never said he was our best player. I wouldn't say that he's our best player, but he's a very valuable player to us."

"I am so excited to coach him. I don't know where the hell that came from, though," Billups added.

Avdija has shown a lot of promise as he heads into his fifth NBA season and could propel himself into a situation where he could be considered the best player on this Portland roster. Coach Billups did a great job addressing this situation and ending it before it became locker room noise that could be distracting, as the Trail Blazer prepare for an interesting season.

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