Shortly after their 2019-20 season came to an end at the hands of the Houston Rockets, the Oklahoma City Thunder find themselves in the market for a new head coach. But they’re not the only NBA team looking for a new voice.
Oklahoma City joins the Bulls, Pelicans, Sixers and Pacers as teams looking for new leaders, and Andre Roberson is endorsing one candidate in particular to assume the helm in Indianapolis: Chauncey Billups.
Billups, a five-time NBA All-Star and MVP of the 2004 NBA Finals, has been working in television since he retired following the 2013-14 NBA season.
In recent years, he has been mentioned as a target for a few front office posts, but none have panned out. Then, on Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Billups is one of the candidates for the Pacers’ head coach vacancy.
Roberson is obviously a fan.
“Will do a fantastic job!,” the defensive stalwart tweeted in response to a tweet from Bleacher Report publicizing the report.
Will do a fantastic job! 🔥✨ https://t.co/Q99Xz80ofY
— Andre Roberson (@FlyDre21) September 10, 2020
If Billups lands one of the current openings, he will join Steve Nash as former players who grabbed gigs this summer without any prior head coaching experience.
Speaking of head coaches, the Thunder themselves need to figure out who will be patrolling the sidelines for the club, however, there isn’t any indication that Sam Presti is in a rush to do so. As it stands, the team has quite a few personnel issues it must figure out.
Still, at least at this point, we know that at least one player who was in the Thunder’s locker room last season supports Billups’ candidacy for a job.
Perhaps Roberson will opine on the list of candidates to succeed Billy Donovan, if it becomes known.