While interviewing and considering the Cavaliers' offer to become head of basketball operations, Chauncey Billups said he did his due diligence on the team's situation and learned much that the rest of the world doesn't know.
During an interview Tuesday on "The Vic Lombardi Show" on Altitude Sports 950 AM in Denver, Billups said he knew four-time All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving was unhappy.
Billups withdrew his name from consideration for the Cavs job on July 3; Irving told the Cavs he wanted to be traded on July 7, according to ESPN. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert promoted Koby Altman to general manager on Monday.
An ESPN analyst, five-time All-Star and 2004 Finals MVP, Billups does not understand why Irving would rather go elsewhere than win with LeBron James in Cleveland this season. He said the perception that Irving has another agenda besides winning could damage his reputation with potential trade partners.
Asked if he was aware of Irving's unrest and if Friday's Irving news surprised him, Billups sighed and said, "You know what, no, it didn't really surprise me. Obviously I knew. As they were doing their due diligence on me, I was doing the same thing. So obviously I knew so much about the situation that the rest of the world doesn't know.
"But that's unfortunate, man, because he's a special talent. In my opinion, so much of what he's been able to accomplish on and off the floor ... he's been a beneficiary of having LeBron James. That would be alarming to me if I was a team looking to get him. If it's all about winning, I mean, you've got a chance to win every single year. And not only that, you're getting everything you want. You're getting all the shots you want, you're playing for a great coach who's letting you go to work, the game's on the line they're coming to you, you're playing on TV every week. To me I don't get it, I just don't get it."
Billups suggested Irving may want Russell Westbrook-type stardom. The Thunder's Westbrook won the league MVP award in 2016 after Kevin Durant departed for the Golden State Warriors.
"Everybody has his own desires. He's won a championship already. Maybe he's saying, 'I won a championship, I did this, I did that.' Maybe he wants to be Russell Westbrook and go and try to win MVP and get all the shots," Billups told Lombardi. "To me it doesn't make sense because all I cared about was winning, not stats, not anything. That's the only sense I can make out of it."
