NBA Rumors: Chauncey Billups Firing Hasn't Been Considered by Blazers Despite Record

The Portland Trail Blazers aren't weighing a coaching change despite sitting 13th in the Western Conference at 31-39, according to The Athletic's Jason Quick.

Quick cited a "high-ranking source" within the organization who said getting rid of coach Chauncey Billups "hasn't even crossed our minds."

Portland is 2.5 games back of the 10th-place Los Angeles Lakers for the final play-in berth and 4.5 games behind the Dallas Mavericks for sixth. A five-game losing streak has meant losing valuable ground over the last week.

At this point, firing Billups may not make much of a difference. The Blazers only have 12 games left in the regular season, so any replacement would have little opportunity to address their biggest on-court issues.

Quick also wrote how Damian Lillard, Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons are behind Billups as well, so it's not as if he has entirely lost the locker room.

Maybe ownership will be more open to discussing the coaching situation when the season is over and there's ample time to consider replacements.

It wouldn't come as a total shock if Billups were fired.

The Blazers' 27-55 record in his first year was understandably written off because Lillard was limited to 29 games and CJ McCollum was moved ahead of the trade deadline. But Portland is still stuck spinning its wheels when its aspirations are much higher than they were a year ago.

This is not a franchise embracing a rebuild. Missing the play-in tournament altogether would qualify as a disappointment.

The trouble for the Trail Blazers is that their problems go beyond coaching. They have a flawed roster with a limited ceiling, and that was apparent before they played a single game.

The front office needs to be much more aggressive, assuming it wants to continue building around Lillard. B/R's Grant Hughes floated a trade that would send Simons and a protected 2025 first-round pick to the Toronto Raptors for O.G. Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa.

Absent a significant reshuffle to the playing personnel, it may not matter who's coaching Portland in 2023-24.