Trail Blazers News: Rival Teams Keeping Tabs on Chauncey Billups' Future in Portland

Suddenly his fate is looking decidedly more tenuous.

Apr 12, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. / Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

Despite claims from team general manager Joe Cronin to contrary, it appears that Chauncey Billups' status as the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers is a bit more tenuous than we may have initially believed.

Per Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated and Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report, several rival NBA clubs are keeping tabs on Billups' availability, and (somehow) see him as a viable candidate for possible head coaching openings.

The current three available gigs consist of two lottery-bound Eastern Conference losers in the Charlotte Hornets and the Washington Wizards, plus the recently-eliminated Los Angeles Lakers. Phoenix Suns head coach could be on the chopping block soon, as his club got swept in the first round despite harboring title expectations with a star-studded cast led by Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradely Beal.

Billups, who has one season left on his current deal, has posted a miserable 81-165 record with the club during his three years in the head coach gig, but that seems to be more an indictment on the Blazers' roster-building under Cronin and his predecessor Neil Olshey.

Billups' younger brother, Rodney, and his lead assistant, Scott Brooks, have already been let go, so it's clear Portland harbors at least some desire to shake things up on his bench.

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