Chauncey Billups is retiring from the NBA after 17 seasons. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Chauncey Billups, the 1995 George Washington graduate who went on to play 17 seasons in the NBA, announced his retirement on Tuesday night in an interview with Yahoo Sports.
Billups, 37, was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame in 2013. He also entered CHSAA’s Hall of Fame in 2012.
“It’s just time. I’m happy, excited,” he told Yahoo Sports. “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.”
At GW, Billups became a transcendent star for the state. He averaged 23.8 points per game in his high school career and led the Patriots to two 6A championships, in 1993 and 1994. He was a four-time player of the year, and a McDonald’s All-American.
During his induction to the National Hall of Fame, he talked about the great impact high school sports had on his life.
Chauncey Billups with CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico. (Randy Orr/NFHS)
“You never know how long those relationships will ever last, and you find out once you get older that the relationships are for a lifetime,” Billups said then. “No matter how my career or any of my other ex-teammates’ careers go, or went, or where their lives take them, we always have that time of our lives in common.
“It was just so pure at that time. It was just a beautiful time, and I will always remember that.”
He remains an icon, and an ambassador for high school sports in this state. And not just for basketball. His work in the community is widely known.
“Not a lot of guys made it in basketball from this state,” Billups said in 2013. “So I carry that chip on my shoulder everywhere I go and everywhere I play, no matter what team or what the letters on the front of the jersey say, I always just carry that pride with me — knowing that I probably wasn’t supposed to be here.”
Graduating from George Washington. (Courtesy photo)
After graduating from George, Billups played at Colorado where he was a second-team All-American in 1997. His No. 4 is retired by the Buffs.
He was then the third overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft.
Billups led Detroit to the 2004 NBA championship, where he was named Finals MVP. He was also a five-time all-star, and won the league’s Sportsmanship (2009) and J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship awards (2008).
In his 17 seasons, he played with Boston, Toronto, Denver (twice), Minnesota, Detroit (twice), New York and the Los Angeles Clippers.
He averaged 15.2 points, 5.4 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 1,043 NBA games.
(Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)