The Portland Trail Blazers have named Micah Nori of Middletown, Ohio as their new head coach according to Jeremy Brener of ESPN on Wednesday. Nori replaces Tiago Splitter of Joinville, Brazil, who was the interim head coach for the Trail Blazers for the majority of last season before accepting the job as head coach of the Chicago Bulls on June 16.
The Trail Blazers’s first coach last season was Chauncey Billups of Denver, Colorado, who was suspended for allegedly participating in illegal poker games. Billups was arrested by the FBI and is set to go to trial on November 2 according to Aaron Kartersky of ESPN. Due to what has happened to Billups, it is unlikely he will ever coach in the NBA again.
Nori’s contract is considered quite strange according to Brener. The contract is for three years. However, only the first year is guaranteed, with an option for the last two years of the contract. It should be noted that a professional sports head coach has a very unstable position. They simply could be fired at any time for not meeting expectations.
This is Nori’s first head coaching job. He was previously an assistant coach in the NBA for the last 17 seasons. Nori was with the Toronto Raptors for four seasons (2009 to 2013), the Sacramento Kings for two seasons (2013 to 2015). the Denver Nuggets for three seasons (2015 to 2018), the Detroit Pistons for three seasons (2018 to 2021), and the Minnesota Timberwolves for five seasons (2021 to 2026).
Nori has a strong history with current Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch. They coached together in Denver and Minnesota.
The Trail Blazers made the playoffs last season. They were the seventh seed in the West with a record of 42 wins and 40 losses, and then lost to the San Antonio Spurs in five games.
It is very interesting that Nori ended up being a basketball coach when he played baseball at Indiana University. Nori’s son Dante is a minor league outfielder in the Philadelphia Phillies organization and represented Italy at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.
