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Mr. Big Shot Chauncey Billups has called it time on Tuesday night to his 17 year long NBA career. Marc. J. Spears from Yahoo Sports first had the news from Billups.
"It's just time. I know when it's time," Billups told Yahoo Sports. "My mind and my desire is still strong. I just can't ignore the fact that I haven't been healthy for three years. I can try again and get to a point where I think I can go, but I just can't sustain. Me not being able to play the way that I can play, that's when you kind of know it's that time.
"It's just time. I'm happy, excited. The game was very, very good to me. I felt like I was equally as good to the game the way I played it and the way I respected it and the way I carried myself through the process." Billups was the leader on the Piston team that upset the mightly Los Angeles Lakers in the 2004 Finals and won the franchise’s first title since the Bad Boys era. He was rightfully named the Finals series MVP in 2004. He spent 17 seasons in the league playing for a total of seven teams including the Pistons with career averages 15.2 points and 5.4 assists. Apart from Detroit, he has played for the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors.
Chris Paul took to Instagram after the news came out.
Billups has five All-Star selections and 3 All-NBA selections to boast off about over the span of his long career. Quite clearly the best times for him were all the seasons spent in Detroit from 2002-2008 and the first season with the Nuggets which also starred in Carmelo Anthony in 2009. He even tasted success on the international stage representing USA Basketball, being a part of the teams that won gold at the 2007 FIBA Americas and 2010 FIBA World Championships.
A torn ACL suffered in 2012 and a lingering knee injury all through the past season are what derailed his career which was chugging along just fine. Rather than spending time on the court as a point guard who is only of a shell of what he once was, Billups decided to call it quits with a terrific resume to show off and the possible chance of finding another job elsewhere within the sport.
To pay tribute to great player, here is a video of this top 10 career playoff plays:
Guess the Lakers players!
