Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups is "confident about his situation," according to Los Angeles Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, in the aftermath of Billups' arrest by federal authorities related to investigations involving illegal poker games with Mafia ties and illegal gambling related to NBA games.
Lue gave reporters an update on Billups before the Clippers' 114-107 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. He and Billups, both former NBA players, are close friends and Lue revealed Sunday he is the godfather to Billups' three daughters. Billups was placed on immediate leave by the league last week and the Trail Blazers named assistant Tiago Splitter their interim head coach.
"It's hard to process," Lue said, according to ESPN. "You hate to see him go through something like this, along with his three girls, who are my goddaughters, and his wife, Piper. I believe in Chauncey's character. I know who he is as a person. I've been with him since I was 17 years old. So, it's just hard to see something like this happen. He has my love and support always."
Lue also commented on how Billups was doing.
"When you've known somebody so long, you can just tell by their voice if he's OK," Lue said. "Like I said, he's confident in what's going on. The toughest part just for him, just like his family going through with his daughters. But other than that, he's really confident about the situation. So just hearing his voice, I can just see that he's OK. So that was good to hear."
