Nuggets Apologized to Chauncey Billups for Trading Him

Well, you certainly don’t see this type of thing every day. The Nuggets had to include Chauncey Billups in the ‘Melo trade, and because he’s such a beloved member of the Denver community, the team felt an obligation to apologize to him and his family. From the Post: “His inclusion in the trade to the New York Knicks was the name that really stung for Nuggets fans. Billups grew up here, played basketball at George Washington High School and the University of Colorado and never wastes an opportunity to show his love for the city. That’s why, said Nuggets executives Josh Kroenke and Masai Ujiri, it was painful to let him go. And that’s why the duo opened their Tuesday evening news conference in an unusual manner. ‘I want to offer a personal apology to the Billups family,’ Kroenke said. ‘They mean the world to me personally, and I know that Chauncey means everything to Denver. And when I say Denver, I mean just Denver basketball on every level. He is Denver basketball. He was a high school star here, he was a college star here, he was a professional star here. It was an incredibly tough decision to include him in this trade.’ Added Ujiri: ‘It was hard. This trade took this long because of Chauncey. We tried every way not to include him in this trade. It’s one of the most difficult things. What a great professional, what a great person, what a great family. He will always be welcome in Denver, and he knows that.’ Throughout the trade saga, Billups maintained the stance he never wanted to leave the Nuggets. His preference would have been to retire a Nugget.”