Tiago Splitter served as an assistant coach with two franchises over five seasons before the Blazers hired him as an assistant in 2025. Altan Gocher / Getty Images
Portland Trail Blazers assistant coach Tiago Splitter will assume interim head-coaching duties in place of Chauncey Billups, the team announced Thursday.
Billups was arrested Thursday morning as part of a federal investigation into illegal betting activities.
“We are aware of the allegations involving head coach Chauncey Billups, and the Trail Blazers are fully cooperating with the investigation,” the Blazers said in a statement. “Billups has been placed on immediate leave, and Tiago Splitter will assume head coaching duties in the interim.”
Splitter, 40, was the head coach of Paris Basketball last year and played in the NBA from 2010 to 2017. He began coaching two years later as an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets for five seasons before spending time on the Houston Rockets’ bench in 2023-24.
A 6-foot-11 Brazilian, Splitter won an NBA title in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs when they defeated the Miami Heat in five games. Splitter retired in 2018 and was later hired as a player-development scout for the Brooklyn Nets. He was promoted to player development coach with Brooklyn in 2019 but parted ways with the franchise in 2023.
Splitter spent one season as an assistant under Ime Udoka’s Rockets before landing the overseas gig in the NLB Élite and EuroLeague. Splitter’s Paris team won the French championship and the French Cup in his lone season, and he has served as an assistant on the Brazilian national team.
Oct 24, 2025
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