In a Tuesday radio interview, Chauncey Billups said he knew about Kyrie Irving’s discontent weeks before the star point guard requested a trade. Billups had been offered a job running the Cleveland Cavaliers’ front office, but declined it three days into free agency.
Chauncey Billups knew of Kyrie Irving’s discontent while interviewing with Cavs weeks ago
Irving’s trade request did not surprise Billups, and it appears to be a reason he declined the front office job.
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On the Vic Lombardi Show on Altitude Sports 950 AM in Denver, Billups called Irving’s mindset “alarming” and indicated that it was a factor into why he didn’t take the Cleveland job.
“(The trade request) didn’t surprise me,” Billups said. “I knew as (the Cavs) were doing their due diligence on me I was doing the same thing on them. I knew so much about the situation that the rest of the world doesn’t know. But it’s unfortunate, man, because he’s a special talent. So much of what he’s been able to accomplish on and off the floor has been as the beneficiary of LeBron James. That would be alarming to me if I was a team looking to get him.”
Irving met with the Cavaliers two weeks ago and requested a trade, something that was reported last Friday. It appears that Cleveland will honor his request, actively searching the market for teams who are interested in the point guard. However, Billups was surprised by Irving’s desire to leave Cleveland.
“You’re getting everything you want,” Billups said. “You’re getting all the shots you want, you’re playing for a great coach, when the game is on the line they’re coming to you, you’re playing on national TV every week. To me, I don’t get it. Everybody has their own desires. Maybe he wants to be Russell Westbrook and go try to win the MVP and get all the shots. That’s the only thing sense I can make of it and to me that doesn’t make sense.”
Billups said concerns about James potentially leaving during next year’s free agency were not a factor in his decision, but it seemed clear the Irving discontent did. Ultimately, it “just didn’t feel like it was quite the right time” to take such a job, he said.
The Cavaliers officially promoted assistant general manager Coby Altman to the lead spot after he had run the team since former general manager David Griffin resigned days before last month’s NBA draft.
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