Trail Blazers News: Does Chauncey Billups Want To Leave After Contract Ends?

The Hall of Fame player has had a frustratting run in Portland.

Apr 11, 2024; Portland, Oregon, USA; Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups directs players during the second half against the Golden State Warriors at Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports / Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports

It appears possible that current Portland Trail Blazers head coach, on the cusp of his fourth season with the club and fourth season as a league head coach overall, may be interested in moving on after his current contract expires at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Per Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report, the Hall of Fame point guard seemed to suggest some unhappiness with his present situation during recent appearances on a pair of podcasts hosted by two of his former All-Star forward colleagues, Rasheed Wallace and Carmelo Anthony.

On Anthony's podcast, "7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony & Kid Mero," Billups explained that he expected to help a contender when he first linked up with the Blazers ahead of the 2021-22 season.

"When I took the job, literally when I took the job, it was a veteran-laden team. Melo was actually still on the roster," Billups noted. "I really took the job thinking that I was going to be coaching him. He was actually on the roster at the time."

Anthony departed Portland in free agency later that summer to join a very ill-fated, veteran-laden Los Angeles Lakers squad. L.A. wound up going just 33-49 and finishing as the Western Conference's No. 11 seed. Portland fared even worse, however, going 27-55 and finishing with the West's No. 13 seed. In part, that's because the Trail Blazers traded backcourt star CJ McCollum and ultimately pulled the rip cord on its season late to jockey for lottery position.

"So you know with Dame [Damian Lillard], and CJ [McCollum], Nurk {Jusuf Nurkic]... it was perfect for me," Billups continued on Anthony's podcast. "So I'm thinking, 'Okay, a few moves here and there, I'm coming to elevate things.' And very quickly it changed. Three, four months in, the guy that hired me, Neil Olshey, gets fired and just everything kind of changed. Now, we're rebuilding, we're young. There's beauty in that too. It almost kind of resembles the start of my actual playing career, to be honest. And you just never know how you're going to be able to get it. But I signed up to coach. And what I thought I was going to be coaching wasn't that, but I'm still signed up to coach... We got some good young dudes on the team that I saw some greatness in."

It appears Billups may still be bitter about joining what he had expected to be a contender — only to quickly see the club descend into three straight seasons of lottery-bound ignominy.

On Wallace's podcast, "Sheed & Tyler," Billups seemed similarly frustrated.

"The biggest difference for me [between playing and coach] is, as a player I felt so in control," Billups allowed on his former Detroit Pistons colleague's podcast. "But here, I can't control it as much, I just kind of have ideas and try and teach the guys what to do and what to look for, but it's kind of out of your hands, to a certain degree."

Does Billups want to move on? Will he find a landing spot still willing to take a shot on a coach who, admittedly not entirely because of his own work, has posted a miserable 81-165 head coaching record and has yet to make the playoffs?

Portland has a say in this, too. The club has a team option on a fifth year for Billups.

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