Neil Olshey and the Blazers confirm that they have done a deep-dive into Chauncey Billups and his sexual assault case and found nothing.
The Portland TrailBlazers seemed to have found themselves in some dangerous waters this past week or so. This, of course, stems from the hiring of Chauncey Billups as their franchise’s newest head coach after nearly a decade of having Terry Stotts at the helm. Damian Lillard personally vouched for Billups to get the job after Jason Kidd was ruled out.
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The Chauncey Billups hiring became a sensitive topic as a sexual assault case from 1997 resurfaced involving Billups. No criminal charges were filed against the former Finals MVP and all parties accused settled a civil suit in 2000. Nearly 25 years later, the case has been brought into the public light and NBA fans are questioning the integrity of the Blazers for such a hire.
Things came to a boil when Jason Quick of the Athletic asked Chauncey Billups at a press conference a couple days ago about how the case shaped him as a person. This is when Neil Olshey and the Blazers’ PR rep stepped in and said Billups would not be answering any questions pertaining to the 1997 incident.
The Blazers conducted their own investigation on Chauncey Billups and found that nothing non-consensual took place.
Jason Quick has been tethered to the Blazers franchise for quite some time now and according to him, Neil Olshey and the team’s front office employed the help of a former FBI investigator. This investigator did everything from review tapes of past interviews, re-interview witnesses, and look into the existing data.
After a clumsy and controversial coaching hire, the Trail Blazers are once again asking for our forgiveness. https://t.co/JeXo6xL7sK
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) June 30, 2021
In conclusion, this FBI investigator has claimed that “nothing non-consensual took place” on that fateful night in 1997. When asked about who this investigator was, Neil Olshey said, “You are just going to have to take us at our word that we hired an experienced firm who ran an investigation and gave us result that we’ve already discussed.”
In all fairness, Chauncey Billups seemed like he was ready to talk openly about the case in the press conference earlier this week. It was only because of the PR representative that he could not air out his side of the story.
