The Chicago Bulls reached a deal Monday to hire Tiago Splitter as their next head coach, ESPN's Shams Charania reported, and the hire makes considerably more sense once you understand how Splitter ended up with the job in Portland that put him in the running.
He was not Portland's first choice. He was Portland's only available option. When Chauncey Billups was arrested in October as part of a federal takedown of a gambling operation, facing charges of wire fraud and money laundering that he has pleaded not guilty to, the Trail Blazers needed an interim head coach.
Splitter, who had joined Billups' staff that June, stepped into the role. Then he went 42-40, made the playoffs and became the first Trail Blazers coach to have a winning record in his debut season since Maurice Cheeks in 2001-02.
Chicago noticed. After a search that covered a double-digit number of candidates and culminated with four finalists meeting Bulls officials in Chicago last week, Splitter, Minnesota assistant Micah Nori, Atlanta assistant Ryan Schmidt and current Bulls assistant Wes Unseld Jr., the franchise landed on the 41-year-old Brazilian who won a championship as a player with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, spent years working as an assistant in Brooklyn and Houston, and then walked into one of the more complicated interim situations in recent NBA history and made it work.
He replaces Billy Donovan, who resigned after six seasons. The Bulls had conversations with Donovan about returning.
He decided he did not want to work with a new front office. With Donovan out and a new front office led by executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham, hired May 4 alongside Stephen Mervis and Acie Law IV, the Bulls needed a coach who fit Graham's vision for the franchise. Splitter was their answer.
The Portland Year That Made This Happen
The full context of what Splitter did in Portland makes the hire easier to understand. The Trail Blazers entered the 2025-26 season as a rebuilding team with limited expectations, then watched their head coach get arrested in a federal investigation in October.
Most franchises would have treated the interim period as a holding pattern, survive the year, find a real coach in the offseason.
Splitter did not treat it as a holding pattern. He installed a defensive system that turned the Trail Blazers into a top-10 defense over their final 51 games of the regular season.
He took a team that allowed points and let games get sloppy and turned them into a group that defended, rebounded and competed.
Portland led the NBA in second-chance points per game, a reflection of a team that pursued the ball with effort.
Over that 51-game stretch where the defensive transformation took hold, Portland went 30-21. They finished 42-40. They made the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference for the first time since 2020-21.
Deni Avdija made his first All-Star team under Splitter, a development milestone that spoke directly to what the Bulls said they were looking for in a coach.
The Chicago front office identified Splitter's player development track record as one of the primary reasons for the hire, alongside what they described as organizational alignment on the franchise's direction and vision.
A coach who took a disrupted roster and developed an All-Star in one season is the specific profile that a Bulls team building toward relevance needs.
The playoff run ended when San Antonio eliminated Portland in five games. It was the Trail Blazers' first playoff series appearance in years. Losing to San Antonio was not the embarrassment it might have been, the Spurs, rebuilt around Victor Wembanyama, are one of the more formidable young teams in the Western Conference. Portland competed. Splitter interviewed well. Chicago called.
Who Is Tiago Splitter?
Splitter was born in Joinville, Brazil on January 1, 1985 and spent his early career in European basketball before the San Antonio Spurs drafted him 28th overall in 2007. He did not come to San Antonio immediately, he played through his contract in Spain first, but arrived in the NBA in 2010 and spent five seasons in the system that Pop Gregg Popovich built.
He won a championship with Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in 2014. The Spurs' imprint on players tends to produce coaches eventually. Splitter is the latest example.
He played through 2017 with Atlanta and Philadelphia, then transitioned into coaching. Seven years as an NBA player. Four years as an assistant with Brooklyn under Steve Nash and then Jacque Vaughn. A year with the Houston Rockets.
A year with Paris Basketball in France. Then back to the NBA as Billups' assistant in Portland and straight into the most consequential interim coaching situation of the 2025-26 season.
He is 41 years old. His coaching record, including the Portland season, is 42-40 with a playoff appearance. The Bulls are 31-51 last season and have missed the playoffs four consecutive years.
He is walking into a franchise that allowed 121.5 points per game last season and ranked 28th in the NBA on defense. The specific thing he just demonstrated he can do in Portland, build a defense, develop players, win games nobody expected him to win, is exactly what Chicago needs him to do.
What The Bulls Are Building
The Splitter hire is one piece of a broader offseason reconstruction that has been unfolding in Chicago since Bryson Graham took over as EVP of basketball operations in May. Graham built a new front office around himself with Mervis and Law.
He led the coaching search. He identified Splitter. He is 30 years old and represents the new generation of NBA front office thinking, analytics-forward, player development oriented, aligned with a coaching staff that shares those values.
The Bulls have Zach LaVine under contract. They have young pieces. They have draft capital from years of not making the playoffs.
They have the No. 11 pick in the upcoming draft. They have the lowest payroll among Eastern Conference teams. They are not ready to compete for a title. They are ready to start going in a direction.
The direction, per everything Graham has said publicly and the coaching hire reflects, is defense first, player development second, winning culture third.
Splitter at 42-40 in Portland with an interim tag and no head coaching experience is the resume item that says he can build those things. Chicago is betting that what worked in Portland works in Chicago too.