The Portland Trail Blazers are expected to name Tiago Splitter as interim coach, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. This comes after the arrest of coach Chauncey Billups Thursday morning in connection to an illegal betting operation. Billups was arrested in Portland on Wednesday night, accused of money laundering and wire fraud for allegedly taking part in illegal high-stakes poker games operated by organized crime. The Hall of Famer is expected to make an initial court appearance later on Thursday in Portland.
In response to Billups’ arrest, and the arrest of Miami Heat player Terry Rozier who is being charged in a separate case, the NBA announced that both are being placed on immediate leave.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today. Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups are being placed on immediate leave from their teams, and we will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities. We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
Billups’ role in the operation was to lure high net-worth individuals to illegal poker games where technology was used to rig the games in favor of the hosts and anyone else involved in the scheme. Rigged shuffle machines, X-ray tables that could read face down cards and special contact lenses and eyeglasses that could read premarked cards were used in this elaborate plan to defraud people out of tens of millions of dollars. Per the indictment, the illegal games goes back to at least 2019. Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones — the latter of whom is also being charged — were used to bring in targets.
It’s unclear how long Splitter would have to serve in the interim coach role. The Blazers are coming off a 118-114 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in their season opener.
Including Splitter, four of Portland’s six assistant coaches are in their first year with the team, with James Posey and Ronnie Burrell as the only two who have been there for two years.
Despite the lack of experience with the team, Splitter does have head coaching experience outside of the NBA. He was the coach of Paris Basketball Club during the 2024-25 season, where he led the team to a French Basketball Cup championship and to the EuroLeague playoffs. Before that, Splitter served as an assistant in the NBA for the Houston Rockets and Brooklyn Nets.
Splitter played seven years in the NBA, most of which came with the Spurs after being drafted 28th overall in the 2007 NBA Draft. He was a key role player in San Antonio’s 2014 championship run and has a lengthy international basketball career as well.
