The Portland Trail Blazers have hired their next head coach: 5x NBA All-Star Chauncey Billups.
And while the move is one many saw coming, the amount of backlash from fans around the league has been pretty surprising.
Billups has some red in his ledger, thanks to a rape allegation made against him in the late 90s. Despite the fact that he was never actually convicted, and the incident happened over 20 years ago, fans are still understandably upset that the Blazers would hire such a man to lead their locker room.
Some fans are even holding it against Damian Lillard, who previously named Chauncey Billups as the guy he wanted.
On Twitter, one fan called out Lillard for his endorsement…
https://twitter.com/YAnunoby/status/1408584085920960515
Lillard responded to the fan.
Really? I was asked what coaches I like of the names I “heard” and I named them. Sorry I wasn’t aware of their history I didn’t read the news when I was 7/8yrs old. I don’t support Those things … but if this the route y’all wana come at me… say less https://t.co/N1GPkX3Ohd
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) June 26, 2021
The fan did not back down and retorted with disbelief that Lillard was not aware of Billups’ history.
https://twitter.com/YAnunoby/status/1408813254755995657
Dame issued a final response, Tweeting a single sentence:
I said what I said family. https://t.co/uwgFRPS5zW
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) June 26, 2021
It remains to be seen how the Blazers, and Billups, will respond to all the backlash. Will his nomination as coach be descended? Will they hold a press conference to talk it through with the fans?
Many want an explanation on the whole thing, and a statement from Chauncey himself on what happened during that night in 1997.
Either way, Dame isn’t backing down on his support.
