The Chicago Bulls have a new man in charge.
The team on Tuesday announced the hiring of coach Tiago Splitter, who will take over after Billy Donovan stepped down at the end of last season. After hiring a new top executive in Bryson Graham last month, the Bulls are now set to continue a pivotal offseason with next week’s NBA draft, in which they have the Nos. 4 and 15 picks.
Here are seven things to know about the new Bulls coach.
1. He was an NBA champion as a player.
Michael Beasley of the Heat defends the Spurs’ Tiago Splitter during Game 5 of the NBA Finals on June 15, 2014, in San Antonio. (Joe Cavaretta/Sun Sentinel)
The first chapter of Splitter’s career as a coach-to-be began when he was still an active player. The Brazilian big man spent the first five — and most meaningful — seasons of his seven-year NBA career playing under legendary San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who provided him with an insightful perspective on how to operate and manage a championship team.
The Spurs drafted Splitter with the 28th pick in 2007. However, he opted to play three more seasons in Spain before coming to the NBA. He became an important role player on a team headlined by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili, and he won a championship ring with the 2013-14 Spurs, starting 18 of the 23 games in their postseason run.
Splitter was never a star player, starting 153 of his 355 total games. But he was a dependable big man, particularly in San Antonio, where he averaged 8.3 points and 5.3 rebounds. He underwent hip surgery in 2016 that ultimately led to the end of his playing career. He retired in 2018 after playing only eight games in the 2016-17 season for the Philadelphia 76ers.
2. He was a leader for Brazil.
Although Splitter played only one season of his professional career in his home country, he dedicated himself to Brazil on the national stage as both a player and a coach. He competed in four FIBA World Cups (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014) and the 2012 London Olympics in addition to winning two gold medals (2005 and 2009) and one silver (2011) in the FIBA AmeriCup.
After his retirement as a player, Splitter joined the Brazilian national team as an assistant coach in 2021. He also has coached youth teams in the Brazilian system.
3. He started as a scout.
Splitter began his traditional coaching experience through a standard route, joining the Brooklyn Nets as a professional scout. That stint lasted for one season before the Nets promoted him to player development coach in 2019, and he remained with the team until 2023.
4. He got experience abroad.
Splitter’s first head coaching job wasn’t in the NBA. He left the Houston Rockets in 2024 after one season as an assistant to become head coach for Paris Basketball, a team that plays in the top flight in France.
Although he coached in France for only one season, Splitter found immediate success. He led Paris to both the French league championship and the French Cup. He also led the team to the EuroLeague through a play-in tournament — a precursor to his later NBA play-in success in Portland.
His international experience reflects several qualities that were deciding factors in the Bulls’ decision to hire him, most notably his ability to helm a young team. Paris is a relatively new franchise that was founded in 2018. The team never had qualified for the EuroLeague tournament before Splitter’s season in charge. He tied for third that season in voting for EuroLeague Coach of the Year.
Splitter ascribed part of his success to detail-oriented scouting and prioritizing the voices of his assistant coaches, two approaches he will carry over to Chicago.
5. He took over in Portland.
Trail Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter watches play during the first half against the Spurs on April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)
Splitter was thrown into the role of interim head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers last fall after Chauncey Billups — who hired him only months earlier — was arrested by the FBI in a federal gambling investigation.
In his first pregame news conference as interim coach, Splitter was blunt about the “not great” mood in the locker room and the “human” aspect of a coach being arrested while taking a stoic approach to upcoming games.
“We’ve got to move forward,” Splitter said. “We’ve got a job to do. I’m not going to get tired of repeating this: We have a great opportunity in front of us to have a great season with this team, and I’m excited about that.”
Splitter led the Trail Blazers to a 42-40 record, and they advanced to the first round of the Western Conference playoffs after a win in the play-in tournament. Although the Blazers faced significant injury setbacks throughout the season, Splitter was able to wrangle his team into a clear — albeit simple — style of play.
The unusual nature of Splitter’s first season as an NBA head coach makes it difficult to predict what to expect from him in a full-time context. In Chicago, he will have an entire summer to build out his playbook and a longer runway on which to work.
6. His approach: ‘Making a menu’
Splitter needed to keep things simple when he took over in Portland. To accommodate this, he adopted an approach that he describes as “making a menu” for his players with a simple “if, then” principle.
In any given coverage, every player is given a short menu of options from which he can select an action. This menu is drilled every day in practice to create a streamlined set of choices for young decision-makers to learn how to create success regardless of situation.
That style could be an important foundation in Chicago, where the roster is set to only get younger over the upcoming years of a rebuild. For players such as Matas Buzelis to learn how to win alongside new acquisitions through the draft, the system needs to be simple and movement-oriented. Splitter clearly favors an up-tempo style that would fulfill those needs.
7. He’s reaching new heights.
At 6-foot-11, Splitter is the second-tallest head coach in league history — and in Bulls history — behind only the 7-1 Bill Cartwright. Last season, he became the tallest coach in NBA history to have a winning record.