Mr. Big Shot is getting his first shot -- as an NBA head coach.
Los Angeles Clippers assistant Chauncey Billups, a five-time All-Star during his playing career, is working out a deal with the Portland Trail Blazers to become the team's next coach, according to media reports.
An agreement was reached on Friday night, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported, and Blazers brass and Billups' reps were working out a "long-term" contract, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Billups will have served one year as an assistant after he was hired by Clippers coach Tyrone Lue last November. The Clippers are currently playing the Suns in the Western Conference Finals, so presumably Billups will take up his new duties when the Clippers' season has finished out.
The Blazers were looking to replace former head coach Terry Stotts, whose teams reached the postseason in eight of his nine seasons at the helm, but made it to only one conference finals.
The 44-year-old Billups played 17 seasons in the NBA from from 1997 to 2014, after he was drafted third overall by the Boston Celtics out of Colorado. He was traded several times early in his career and regarded as something of a disappointment, but later hit his stride with the Detroit Pistons, including winning an NBA title in 2004, and during a second stint with the Denver Nuggets.
The well-travelled Denver native also played for the Timberwolves, Clippers, and Knicks, and finished out his playing career with a second stint in Detroit.
In Portland, he will take over a team led by the potent scoring tandem of Damian Lillard, with whom he is said to be friendly, and CJ McCollum. The Blazers were 42-30 last season, capturing the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoffs before they were bounced in the first round by the Nuggets.
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