After fans questioned whether Damian Lillard knew of Chauncey Billups’ 2000 sexual assault case, as the former NBA player is presumed to be the Portland Trail Blazer’s next head coach, Dame cleared the air on Twitter.
As reported by Blazers Edge, a fan tweeted at Dame Saturday, claiming that the all star likely had a big stake in the head coaching decision, and may have known about Billups’ 2000 out-of-court settlement.
“This [the hiring] is on Dame IMO,” the user tweeted. “They were always going to hire exactly who he wanted and he wanted Billups or [Jason] Kidd. They put out names like Becky Hammon and Mike D’Antoni to cool off some of the backlash and hire the guy who they were always going to hire.”
Dame responded not long after, saying that he was a kid at the time of the news.
“Really? I was asked what coaches I like of the names I ‘heard’ and I named them,” Lillard wrote. “Sorry I wasn’t aware of their history I didn’t read the news when I was 7/8 years old. I don’t support Those things … but if this is the route y’all wana come at me… say less.”
The fan then told Dame that he respected his game, but added that if he wasn’t “aware of the Billups rape case when the news first broke (weeks ago), that’s fair. I just can’t believe that you weren’t aware before the decision was made.”
“I said what I said family,” Dame wrote.