Chauncey Billups turns down Cavaliers’ offer to be new president of basketball operations, per report

Chauncey Billups has withdrawn from consideration for the Cleveland Cavaliers’ general manager job, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The lead position has been unfilled since David Griffin stepped down from the role days before the NBA draft.

Griffin, who stepped down June 19, had a contract that was set to expire June 30. Since then, the Cavaliers have been run by assistant general manager Koby Altman, who ran the front office during the draft and re-signed Kyle Korver on a three-year, $22 million deal.

However, the lead spot for Cleveland has been open for nearly two weeks as Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert waited for Billups to make a decision. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on the Lowe Post podcast, Billups was torn between becoming one of the few black executives in the league, something very important to him, and uprooting his family from Denver, where two of his teenage daughters are still in school.

“I have great respect for Dan Gilbert and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I greatly appreciate the discussions we had regarding their organization,” Billups told Wojnarowski. “As I have conveyed before, ultimately I would like to lead a team’s basketball operation and be a part of a successful franchise. But presently, the timing just isn’t right to delve into that role in Cleveland. In the meantime, I will continue to focus on broadcasting and my other business endeavors.”

Another dispute was reportedly a money disparity, per ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.

The other concern of the Cleveland job is the uncertainty: rumors have been swirling for weeks that LeBron James will strongly consider leaving the team once again when he becomes a free agent in 2018.

Ultimately, those two factors were too much for Billups, who will remain in his current role as an ESPN television analyst. Billups is also playing in the Big 3, debuting on Sunday.