Portland Trail Blazers Name Intriguing Interim Head Coach in Place of Chauncey Billups

The NBA world was completely rocked on Thursday when the FBI confirmed they have both Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups in custody related to sports gambling and illegal poker games. While it's unclear just how long this situation will take, the 2025–26 NBA season is here, and it's not going to stop, leaving the Portland Trail Blazers in an intriguing spot.

Given the situation, Billups is out as head coach, and in the interim, the team has turned to former NBA role player and current assistant coach Tiago Splitter to take up the role moving forward.

Splitter has just a few years as an assistant coach under his belt, being hired by Billups and the Trail Blazers back in June to continue his journey as an assistant in the NBA. Now, he's been thrust into the spotlight, and with the Blazers looking to take a step forward with this intriguing young lineup, he's got a major role on his hands, especially given the situation that saw him become coach.

At 40 years of age, Splitter is still very young as a coach in the NBA, but with years of championship experience as a player with the San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, and Philadelphia 76ers, he's not going to be intimidated by this situation. At this point, no one knows how the Billups situation will play out, and with Splitter as interim head coach, no one knows how that will go. For now, the team is putting its confidence in its new bench boss.