NBA News Wire
Report: Billups says he is retiring
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Guard Chauncey Billups, who was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP when he led the Detroit Pistons to a championship, told Yahoo Sports on Monday that he is retiring after 17 seasons.
Billups missed 169 games the last three years, and the Pistons declined the team option on his contract over the summer.
Billups, a five-time All-Star, said he had some options to play this season, but decided to call it quits.
“It’s just time. I know when it’s time,” Billups told Yahoo Sports. “My mind and my desire is still strong. I just can’t ignore the fact that I haven’t been healthy for three years. I can try again and get to a point where I think I can go, but I just can’t sustain. Me not being able to play the way that I can play, that’s when you kind of know it’s that time.
“It’s just time. I’m happy, excited. The game was very, very good to me. I felt like I was equally as good to the game the way I played it and the way I respected it and the way I carried myself through the process.”
Billups, the No. 3 overall pick in the 1997 draft by the Celtics, played for seven NBA teams. He finished with a career average of 15.8 points and 5.4 assists.
His best season was 2005-2006 with the Pistons, when he averaged 18.5 points and 8.6 assists.
In 2013-2014 he played in just 19 games for Detroit, averaging 3.8 points and 16.3 minutes per game.
