The Chicago Bulls have named Tiago Splitter of Joinville, Brazil as their new head coach. Splitter replaces Billy Donovan of Rockville Centre, New York, who resigned on April 21.
Splitter was the interim head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2025-26. He posted a record of 42 wins and 39 losses for a winning percentage of .519. The Trail Blazers needed to make a coaching change because Chauncey Billups was suspended by the NBA for allegedly participating in a gambling ring. Billups will be going on trial in November.
Now, the Trail Blazers will need to hire a new head coach. There are two vacant head coaching spots in the NBA currently. One is in Portland, and the other is in Dallas, as Jason Kidd has parted ways with the Mavericks.
Splitter is the first and only Brazilian born head coach in NBA history. He is one of five active coaches in the NBA not born in the United States. The other five are Steve Kerr of Beirut, Lebanon (Golden State Warriors), Tuomas Iisalo of Helsinki, Finland (Memphis Grizzlies), Darko Rajakovic of Cacak, Yugoslavia (Toronto Raptors), and Jordi Fernandez of Badalona, Spain (Brooklyn Nets).
As a player, Splitter spent seven seasons in the NBA from 2010 to 2017. He was with the San Antonio Spurs for five seasons from 2010 to 2015, and one season each with the Atlanta Hawks (2015 to 2016), and Trail Blazers (2016 to 2017). With the Spurs, Splitter won the NBA Finals in 2014.
