Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups hasn’t had much success on his first try leading an NBA team’s bench.
Hired before the 2021-22 season, Billups owns just an 81-165 record in his first three seasons as head coach. While Portland hasn’t done very well, the 47-year-old Billups at least received great news that he will be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024 for his time as a player.
Chauncey Billups on making it to the Hall of Fame – or as he calls it, “basketball heaven”:
“To be here now is unbelievable I played the right way. I never chased stats… I tried to play for my team… make everybody better. And everything good happened to me because of that” pic.twitter.com/qmGitHB7LY
— Romi Bean (@Romi_Bean) April 3, 2024
The Trail Blazers made some decisions with their coaching staff that put into question how much more of a future Billups has with the team.
Trail Blazers Shake Up Chauncey Billups’ Coaching Staff
Assistant Coach Shake Up Including his Brother
After trading Damian Lillard last offseason, nobody was anticipating Portland to be a playoff team. The bottom fell out from the Trail Blazers though as they were one of the league’s worst teams at 21-61. That was tied for the third-worst record in the NBA, only better than the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards.
Injuries to some of their young talent including Shaedon Sharpe and Anfernee Simons didn’t help matters. The third overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Scoot Henderson, went through many growing pains in his first season.
Per Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian/Oregon Live, two assistant coaches for Portland will not have their contracts renewed.
One of those is Scott Brooks who has been the top assistant for Billups’ staff for the last three seasons. Prior to joining Portland, Brooks gained plenty of experience as a head coach. The 2009-10 Coach of the Year spent seven seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder and five seasons with the Wizards as the head coach.
Also not having his contract renewed is Rodney Billups, the younger brother of Chauncey. Rodney joined the team as an assistant coach a couple of months into Chauncey’s first season with Portland. The team had already lost assistant coach Steve Hetzel. He is joining Jordi Fernandez’s staff with the Brooklyn Nets.
Billups’ Job is Safe (For Now)
The Trail Blazers have already announced that Chauncey Billups will begin his fourth season as head coach at the start of the 2024-25 season. How much longer of a leash will he have?
In 2021, Billups agreed to join Portland on a five-year deal. The last season on that deal is a team option. That means the upcoming 2024-25 season is the last one where Billups has a guaranteed deal. It puts Portland’s head coach in somewhat of a lame-duck situation.
Not bringing back his brother is another sign that Billups’ tenure with the Trail Blazers may be on thin ice. Portland has yet to taste playoff basketball with Billups at the helm. Their best season with him was a 33-49 record in 2022-23.
