How did Chauncey Billups get his "Mr. Big Shot" nickname: "You don't know if I'm clutch or not"

At the beginning of October, Chauncey Billups rightfully took his place among greatness when he was enshrined as part of the 2024 Basketball Hall of Fame class.

Chauncey had an amazing 17-year career in the NBA. He played for seven different teams, but his best years were with the Detroit Pistons. Billups was amazing in the six years he played there, and his crowning moment came in 2004 when the Pistons, as the heavy underdogs, knocked off the Los Angeles Lakers with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in five games.

"Mr. Big Shot" was the Finals MVP as he averaged 21.0 points per game, with 3.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists a contest.

Origins of the Billups' nickname

However, Billups earned his nickname a couple of years before that when he just arrived in Detroit. Rick Carlisle, the team's coach, was the reason why. He finally decided to put Chauncey in clutch situations where he was amazing.

"I had a conversation with him; he was playing Chucky [Atkins], he said, 'I'm more comfortable with Chucky; he won some games for us last year,' and I'm like: 'Yeah, but I'm your starting point guard. There are no starting point guards in the league that don't play at the end of the games. You got to give me a shot, you don't know if I'm clutch or not'" , Billups said on ESPN's hoop streams in 2020.

"And he was like: 'Yeah, that's a fair point, you're right'. Now, over the course of two weeks, I hit two game-winners and got the nickname; it never let up. Rick Mahorn was the first one to call me Mr. Big Shot'."

Related: "You're a good friend… I'm so sorry man" - When Kobe Bryant issued an emotional apology after punching his Lakers teammate over a $100 debt

Floor general

Chauncey got to a rocky start in his career after he was drafted third overall by the Boston Celtics in 1997. However, he wasn't a good fit there, and he was traded to the Toronto Raptors 51 games into his career.

Billups spent a year in Denver after that, but only when he signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2000, his career started going on the right path.

In Detroit, he became one of the best point guards in the league, where he formed one of the most underrated teams in NBA history with Ben and Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince. They played ultimate team basketball, but "Mr. Big Shot" always stood out as he was the floor general on the team.

However, neither the Pistons team nor Chauncey ever got the proper recognition at the time, as they always flew under the radar of the big market teams.

Making the Hall of Fame 20 years later, like Billups did, certainly makes up for it.

Related: Chauncey Billups reveals that 'Mr. Big Shot' almost didn't happen: "There's a great chance I never would have come to Detroit"