Tiago Splitter was elevated to the interim head coaching position of the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday after initial head coach Chauncey Billups was arrested for his alleged involvement in an illegal poker scandal. With the team set to take on the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, Splitter shared his first comments since Billups' arrest.
The 40-year-old former NBA center admitted that team morale is not in a great place right now, according to Anthony Slater of ESPN. Despite that, Splitter makes it clear that he is ready for the interim role, and it's business as usual without Billups.
“Tiago Splitter steps into his interim role as Blazers head coach in place of Chauncey Billups: ‘We have a job to do,'” Slater wrote. “On the mood at [the] facility yesterday: ‘Not great.' Can he have contact with Billups? ‘No.' Splitter: ‘I have to be ready. I was ready. I am ready.'”
He'll be making his NBA head coaching debut against a Warriors team that is already 2-0 to begin the season. Meanwhile, the Blazers are still seeking their first win of the 2025-26 campaign. Before getting into coaching, Splitter played seven years in the NBA and was part of the 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs' championship team.
The Trail Blazers named Splitter their interim head coach despite his lack of experience as a head coach. Splitter just got into the coaching circuit in the 2019 season when he became an assistant for the Brooklyn Nets. Since then, he's also been an assistant for the Houston Rockets. Splitter served as the head coach of the Paris Basketball team in 2024-2025 before accepting an assistant role with Portland in the 2025 offseason.
Tiago Splitter's assistants with the Blazers consist of Nate Bjorkgren, Patrick St. Andrews, Quinton Crawford, Ronnie Burrell, and James Posey. We'll see what this group can do this season now that Chauncey Billups is out of the picture.
