Thursday was the saddest day in Denver basketball history. News of the early morning arrest and indictment of Chauncey Billups hit Denver like a polar vortex. The heartbreaking opening night overtime loss by our Nuggets to the Warriors seemed inevitable.
This Billups indictment is as serious as a heart attack. Billups’ booking information will include the prominent tattoo inked across his left shoulder and upper arm: King of Park Hill. Chauncey is Denver’s native-born hero and natural-born leader.
At the most recent No Kings Day rally, hoping to convert some conservatives, I wore a blue Broncos Tim Tebow jersey. I carried a sign that said “Democracy is a Blessing” on one side and “No Dictatorships Please” on the other. I got some smiles and laughs from my fellow protesters. I had no idea Denver’s basketball king was endangered.
John Elway was our Duke, and Peyton Manning our Sheriff. But Chauncey Billups was our basketball King. He grew up in the Mile High City and graduated from Denver’s George Washington High School, my high school alma mater. Four years all‑city. Four years all‑state.
Then came CU in Boulder, my law school alma mater, where he gave local college basketball relevance, swagger and belief. In the NBA, it was Boston, then Detroit, where they called him “Mr. Big Shot” for orchestrating the Bad Boys’ NBA Championship. After that, he returned home to Denver, where he lifted the Nuggets’ credibility and the city’s pride.
Sports and political commentator Stephen A. Smith said aloud what some suspect: this may be the tip of the iceberg. Could it be that President Trump’s Justice Department has opened a new front in his desire for retribution, aiming for the professional athletes and sports leagues that dare to defy him? The NFL. The NBA. The WNBA. The same leagues that questioned his ethics, his politics and his racism.
Will rich pro athletes be exposed now for improprieties known to Trump’s FBI, IRS and Trump’s feisty “Mortgage Guy,” Federal Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte? What happens if LeBron calls Trump a bum again? What happens if the NFL keeps Bad Bunny as Super Bowl halftime entertainment over Trump’s strenuous objection?
Trump has a long memory and a tiny conscience. He’ll never forgive the NFL for deflecting his attempt to buy the Buffalo Bills. He’ll never forgive NBA and WNBA players for kneeling, protesting and calling out racism. He mocks Black people as “low IQ.” Trump’s Justice Department and military treat brown people as targets for extra-judicial murder and kidnappings.
Denver basketball fans would like to believe that the charges against Billups are wrong. However, that seems like wishful thinking, given the pre-Trump era timeline outlined in the damning indictment. Billups is accused of playing rigged big-money poker for many years, and the issue at the trial will be proving his mental state while participating. Did he think he just got hot? Was Mr. Big Shot duped? Or was he part of a new team of bad boys?
When the Trump Justice Department accuses someone of fraud, the contradictions are rich. Trump’s infidelities and money-grubbing frauds routinely betray subcontractors, creditors, golf competitors and spouses. The man promised not to touch the White House and then bulldozed its bones to build a ballroom for himself.
That’s the cruelty of the Billups indictment. The King of Park Hill, the man who could make the big shot and the perfect pass, now faces an unforgiving clock, counting down toward a trial, dismissal or a plea disposition. The damage done will be hard to overcome. However, Billups’ fellow Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant survived Colorado sexual assault charges.
No native born and raised Denver basketball star ever brightened the world of basketball as Chauncey Billups did. The only “cheating” anyone ever accused him of was how he cupped (palmed?) the ball on his dribble, freezing defenders before blowing by them.
I admit my bias. Chauncey Billups is my fellow GW All-City awardee and GW Hall of Fame basketball brother. All GW Patriots have long lived in his reflected glorious light. No GW graduate is better known or more popular.
I want Chauncey Billups to be innocent. I also wish for a Department of Justice that I could believe in. But we watch the Epstein File being hidden. Young girls were raped and trafficked, precisely the kind of human trafficking that Tim Tebow and his wife fight with their foundation.
US v Billups will be fascinating litigation to follow as it proceeds in the Brooklyn federal court. Modern betting sites like Kalshi and Polymarket let you bet thousands of dollars on what Trump will say any day, and whether Billups will soon be fired. Could these results be rigged? Duh.
The would-be King of America is prosecuting the King of Park Hill, and the odds seem long for Billups. But so were the odds of a Denverite from George Washington going to the NBA Hall of Fame. We hope against hope that our King of Park Hill is not a fraudster.
Say it ain’t so, Chauncey Billups, please say it ain’t so.
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