Chicago Bulls swoop in, reportedly hire Tiago Splitter away from Portland to be next head coach

The Portland Trail Blazers — specifically new owner Tom Dundon, according to league sources — were unsure about bringing back acting coach Tiago Splitter and giving him the job full-time. They took their time deciding between him and several other finalists, while Dundon was focused on his NHL team, the Carolina Hurricanes, winning the Stanley Cup.

So the Chicago Bulls have swooped in and will hire Splitter as their new head coach, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN and confirmed by multiple other reports.

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Splitter will take over for Billy Donovan, who chose to leave to explore other options. This is a quality hire for Chicago.

Splitter came to Portland last season, hired away after leading Paris Basketball to the French Cup. He became a top assistant coach on Chauncey Billups’ Portland staff, then, when Billups was arrested as part of a federal gambling investigation, Splitter was tapped to become the acting head coach. In that role, he led them to a better-than-projected 42-40 season and a playoff berth in the West, and helped develop Deni Avdija into an All-Star.

The Portland players respected Splitter. He was a seven-season NBA veteran as a player who won a ring with the 2014 San Antonio Spurs. As a coach, he has shown a strength in player development — something seen in Portland last season with Avdija, Scoot Henderson and others — and something that has to be a priority in Chicago with a roster in flux.

While it seemed logical to keep Splitter in the big chair in Portland, Dundon reportedly wasn’t a fan. While Splitter was a finalist for the Trail Blazers’ job, he was part of a wide-ranging search by Dundon and the Portland front office to find their cost-effective coach. While that search dragged on, Splitter started talking to the Bulls, and that team’s new head of basketball operations, Bryson Graham, liked what he saw. Splitter reportedly beat out Minnesota assistant Micah Nori, Atlanta assistant Ryan Schmidt and Bulls assistant Wes Unseld Jr. for the job.

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Splitter takes over a Bulls team with a roster in transition, but led by quality players in Josh Giddey and…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/chicago-bulls-swoop-reportedly-hire-164259914.html

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Publish date : 2026-06-15 16:42:00

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