Listen: Chauncey Billups Says Kyrie Irving’s Trade Request “Didn’t Really Surprise Him”

“No. It didn’t really surprise me. Obviously, I knew.” Billups said on Altitude 950 on the Vic Lombardi Show when asked about Irving’s request. “As they were doing their due diligence on me, I was doing the same thing. I knew so much about the situation that the rest of the world doesn’t know. But that’s unfortunate. He’s a special talent and in my opinion, so much of what he’s been able to accomplish on and off the floor has been a beneficiary of having LeBron James.

“That would be alarming to me if I was a GM of a team trying to get him because if it’s all about winning, man, you’ve got a chance to win every single year. Every single year. Not only that, you’re getting the ball, you’re getting everything you want. You’re getting all the shots you want. You’re playing for a great coach who’s letting you go to work. The games on the line, they’re coming to you. You’re playing on (national) TV every week. To me, I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. But everybody has their own desires. He won a championship already. Maybe he’s saying ‘You know what? Yeah, I won a championship. I did this. I did that,’ maybe he wants to be Russell Westbrook, man, and go try to win MVP and get all the shots. To me, that doesn’t make sense because all I cared about was winning.”