On Sunday, October 13th, Chauncey Billups and the rest of the 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class were inducted into basketball immortality in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Billups, who spent his college career with the Colorado Buffaloes, became the second player in Colorado alumni history to be inducted into a professional sports hall of fame. He joins Cliff Branch of the pro football class of 2022 as the lone forever Buffs in their respective sports pantheons.
You know the man and the headline, but how well do you know Chauncey Billups’ inspiring journey to Springfield? Let’s start with how he ended up suiting up for the black & gold.
The year is 1993, and a junior guard is making waves across the country after making Colorado Mr. Basketball all three years so far in his high school career, and twice as an All-American. The 17-year-old grew up in Denver, where his youth coaches gave him a royal title for his neighborhood: The King of Park Hill.
Now, attending George Washington High School to the south, Billups had drawn the eyes of the entire college basketball world, all eager to land the Denver prospect, and the University of Colorado’s recruiting had been silent compared to the likes of Kansas, UCLA, and Georgia Tech.
Despite more tempting offers further away, Billups stayed local and chose to attend college up the road in Boulder.
Amidst the recruiting drama, one Colorado journalist wasn’t completely sold on the praise from the media.
"The bidding has begun for Chauncey Billups, an intelligent, caring 17-year-old junior at George Washington High School,” they wrote. “But he's nothing more than a prize piece of meat in college basketball's recruiting market."
The 6-foot-3 Denverite was indeed far from the top names in the ‘94 recruiting class, which included future NBA all-stars Kevin Garnett, Stephon Marbury, Antoine Walker, and Ron Mercer. However, he was more than enough of a promising player to call for celebration in Boulder.
The arrival of Chauncey Billups galvanized the Buffaloes’ program, still celebrating the football team’s national championship just four years prior. In his first year with the team, the freshman guard was on the court for over 50% of the team’s total minutes and led the squad in points, rebounds, and assists per game (17.9, 6.3, and 5.5, respectively).
Despite the work of their promising freshman, the Buffaloes fell in the first round of the Big Eight championship tournament to the Paul Pierce-led Kansas Jayhawks.
The next season, the conference expanded into the Big 12, where Billups would lead the team to their first March Madness appearance in 28 years. The Buffs’ NCAA tournament run started with a regular season upset against No. 20 Texas Tech, who were led by Chauncey’s future championship-winning teammate and fellow head coach Darvin Ham.
After losing in the second round in the 1997 tournament, Billups declared for the NBA draft after his sophomore year. Despite a two-season career with the black & gold, he shattered program records, including over 1,000 points and unanimous first-team Big-12 honors.
In the 1997 NBA draft, Billups was selected third overall- the highest of any Colorado alum in school history- to the Boston Celtics. Boston also held the sixth overall pick and drafted Mercer out of Kentucky.
The 1997 draft was a disaster for the Celtics, which is detailed in SB Nation’s recap. The season prior, Boston hired infamous coach Rick Pitino, who’d make frequent trades on a whim, including one for Mercer.
After taking down the reigning champion Michael Jordan and the Bulls in his debut, Billups would have an underwhelming season, with Pitino openly criticizing him in press conferences. Midway through the 1997 season, the third overall pick was dealt to the Toronto Raptors.
He’d find no more success there, as Toronto gave him away after the 1998 season, having very mediocre performances apart from a few career-high nights.
In January of 1999 during his second season, Chauncey was sent back home, being traded to the Denver Nuggets. He’d only spent a quiet year with the team, with perhaps his most notable moment with the team coming after the Columbine High School Shooting that April, where Billups was one of the Colorado athletes who visited the survivors of the massacre.
The Colorado native was dealt to the Magic in 2000, spending his whole tenure there on IR with a shoulder injury. He became a free agent a few months later, and at this point was considered a massive bust.
The trajectory of Billups’ career changed drastically in 2000 when he was signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“I really wish coach Flip Saunders was alive to see me on this stage,” Billups mentioned at his induction ceremony Sunday. “Flip really believed in me, he believed I [could] prove I [could] be that kid that was drafted number three overall, and he gave me that opportunity.”
In Minnesota, he would sit behind starting point guard Terrell Brandon, who would mentor Billups into the legendary point guard that he would later become.
The Colorado product came off the bench for two seasons with the Timberwolves, now shattering his career highs and having a standout performance in the team’s 2002 playoff run.
Chauncey had a breakthrough campaign, but Minnesota was reluctant to extend his contract, allowing him to test the free agency in June of 2002.
The point guard landed with the Detroit Pistons, now a lethal shooter and an even more dangerous defensive guard. Billups was now a fan favorite, becoming a clutch shooter by coming up big in late situations. For his effort, the city gave him the nickname “Mr. Big Shot”.
The Pistons would be swept in the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals, but the franchise was confident they were just one good offseason away from a title.
The 2004 team assembled: Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Ben Wallace. ‘The Best Five Alive’ would become one of the greatest defensive teams in professional basketball history.
That regular season, Billups and the Detroit Pistons won 11 games holding their opponent to less than 70 points. For reference, it’s been around six years since an NBA team has been held to that few in a single game.
Billups was then involved in the altercation against the Detroit Pistons on November 19th, in what became the Malice at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He was one of nine players suspended in the aftermath.
After later conquering a dominant Eastern conference, the Pistons won their ticket to the NBA Finals against one of the greatest dynasties in the league’s history: Shaq & Kobe’s Lakers.
The Pistons held the Lakers on defense where it mattered, but it was Ben Wallace and Chauncey Billups who responded with a dominant offensive performance. The underdog roster beat Los Angeles 4-1 in the series, and for his two-way masterclass, the forever Buff was crowned Finals MVP.
After spending his first seven seasons bouncing between teams while being labeled as a ‘bust’, Mr. Big Shot’s 2004 campaign was one of the most impressive comeback stories in basketball.
Billups would continue to be a perennial All-Defensive player and ended back with the Nuggets in 2008 donning number seven for John Elway. He intended to retire as a Nugget, capping off his all-Colorado story, but was traded in 2011 to the Knicks to satisfy the Carmelo Anthony deal.
The NBA star returned to Detroit and retired in 2014. His number one jersey was retired by the Pistons shortly after. He left the sport as a five-time all-star, three-time All-NBA, two-time all-defensive award winner, and now pro basketball hall of famer.
Billups’ basketball career is far from over, as he is currently the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, leading fellow Colorado alum Jabari Walker.
The hall of famer continues to support his hometown and alma mater, even giving a “Sko Buffs” at his induction speech. Along with his pro basketball enshrinement, the guard is also memorialized in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame.
Cover photo via Jessica Hill/AP Photo
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