The Portland Trail Blazers are deep into their offseason. After coming up just short of making a bid for the play-in this season, they are making some changes to help fix that.
Entering the 2024-25 NBA season, many believed Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was a lame duck coach. While he had a team option for 2025-26, the lack of progress Portland had shown made it seem as if Billups would not be retained.
Tiago Splitter and Patrick St. Andrews are joining the Trail Blazers‘ coaching staff as assistants to Chauncey Billups, multiple sources tell Danny Marang of 1080 The Fan in Portland (X link).
Tiago Splitter knows both sides of the basketball world well. A EuroLeague champion and former NBA big man with a championship ring from his time with the San Antonio Spurs, Splitter has lived the cultural and stylistic divide between European and American basketball.
Tuomas Iisalo will officially be leaving his job as head coach of Paris Basketball to become one of the lead assistant coaches for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Gregg Popovich’s coaching tree is officially expanding overseas. French professional basketball team Paris Basketball announced to social media this week that they have hired former Spurs champion Tiago Splitter as their new head coach.
The NBA’s exclusive media rights negotiating window with Disney (ESPN/ABC) and Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) is expected to expire on Monday without a new deal in place, reports Alex Sherman of CNBC Sports.