The Chicago Bulls have made their long-awaited hiring of a new coach, selecting Portland Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter to helm the next era of the franchise, a source confirmed to the Tribune on Monday.
ESPN first reported Splitter’s hiring.
A former power forward who won an NBA title with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, Splitter is a rising star among the league’s coaching ranks. At 41, he was the youngest of the four finalists — including Wes Unseld Jr., Micah Nori and Ryan Schmidt — the Bulls considered for the position.
Splitter also had the shortest — and most intriguing — coaching resume of the candidates.
After retiring as a player in 2017, Splitter almost immediately transitioned into a scouting position with the Brooklyn Nets. He was promoted to player development coach before earning his first assistant coaching position with the Houston Rockets in 2023.
He spent two years under coach Ime Udoka in Houston before earning a lead assistant role in Portland under Chauncey Billups. Barely four months after Splitter was hired, the FBI arrested Billups after an investigation into a wide-ranging gambling case.
Splitter was promoted to interim head coach for the 2025-26 season. Despite the awkward nature of his entrance into the role, he made a strong impression by lifting a young and somewhat underdeveloped Trail Blazers team to the playoffs through the play-in tournament. Deni Avdija earned his first All-Star nod, and the Blazers won 42 games to finish seventh in the Western Conference.
After that type of debut performance, most teams would have been scrambling to lock down an interim coach as a long-term solution. But per a source, the Blazers were either unwilling or unable under new owner Tom Dundon to make a competitive offer to retain Splitter, and the Bulls were able to poach him as a result.
Now Splitter will look to make his mark with only seven years of coaching experience under his belt. His hiring reflects the willingness of new executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham to push for new ideas and put his trust in young talent at the start of a lengthy rebuilding process for the Bulls.
Splitter replaces Billy Donovan, who stepped down April 21 after six seasons as Bulls coach. Donovan’s departure followed the April 6 firings of executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley with four games left in the season.
The Bulls finished 31-51 in 2025-26, missing the playoffs for a fourth straight year and eighth time in nine seasons.
