Trail Blazers News: More Possible HC Opportunities Rumored for Chauncey Billups

There are two openings on 2024 playoff teams.

Apr 3, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups during the second half against the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

With two (semi-) highly-coveted head coaching oportunities still very much available in the NBA, it seems possible that another celebrity hire could swoop into the mix: 2024 Hall of Fame point guard/Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, who just wrapped up his third consecutive lottery-bound season with the club in his current role.

According to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated, rival teams are eyeballing Billups in case he works out an exit from Portland. He has just one year remaining on his current deal with the team, and has yet to work out a contract extension to lengthen his services. Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian reported last month that Billups could become a head coach contender for teams given the boot early into the playoffs. It's a bit befuddling that he has been floated as a prospect for playoff teams, considering that Billups owns an 81-165 record for his career and hasn't necessarily shown much of a propensity for truly developing young talent, the other metric by which he should be judged, aside from wins and losses. Yes, the Trail Blazers tanked in 2023-24, but the team genuinely thought it could compete from 2021-23, even though perhaps it was juggling questionable rosters around now-former Blazers All-Star point guard Damian Lillard.

Currently, the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers are the two NBA clubs with head coaching vacancies. L.A. fired two-year head coach Darvin Ham after the team finished 47-35 in the Western Conference and was eliminated in a five-game first round series. Cleveland canned head coach J.B. Bickerstaff after he led the team for four years and change (he had an interim shift at the end of the 2019-20 season). Most recently, in these playoffs, Bickerstaff coached the 48-34 Cavs to a second round appearance for the first time since LeBron James abandoned Cleveland for the Lakers in 2018. Is there any actionable evidence Billups would perform any better with either team? Not per se.

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