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Shams Charania: The Bulls landed on Splitter due to his ability to lead the team’s player development, organizational alignment on the franchise's direction and vision, and his leadership and knowledge base as a coach rising through the ranks since 2018 as well as a seven-year NBA player with one championship with the San Antonio Spurs. Splitter, 41, guided the Trail Blazers to a 42-40 record and a postseason berth as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference amid adversity stemming from Chauncey Billups’ federal charges. Sources said top Bulls officials, including Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Bryson Graham and his front-office staff, met with four finalists for the head coaching job last week in Chicago: Splitter, Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori, Atlanta Hawks assistant Ryan Schmidt and current Bulls assistant Wes Unseld Jr.
It’s that latter scenario that is gaining momentum, according to a source, as Graham has a gluttony of second-round draft assets to use, even if it means moving up a spot or two to get his guy. First things first, as the Bulls will have a coach in place well before the two-day NBA Draft begins on June 23, likely done by next week at the latest. According to a source, one known in the coaching search is the Wes Unseld Jr. interview wasn’t done as just a favor for the current Bulls’ assistant. He is a finalist and has impressed throughout the process. Unseld, however, is not alone.
The Bulls, meanwhile, are expected to narrow down their list of candidates to a group of finalists by early next week at the latest, league sources say. One name among numerous interviewees we've been told to expect as a finalist: Incumbent Bulls assistant coach Wes Unseld Jr. Unseld has past head coaching experience in Washington.
KC Johnson: Officially official Coach search will be heating up next. On our By The Horns podcast, we’ve been consistent to watch for some of these names: Wes Unseld Jr., James Borrego, Sean Sweeney and Micah Nori. According to @JakeLFischer , OKC’s Dave Bliss could be in mix as well.
According to @JakeLFischer, OKC’s Dave Bliss could be in mix as well.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) May 19, 2026
Either way, there is a real likelihood that the Bulls are conducting a coaching search in less than two weeks or simply promoting Wes Unseld Jr. since the coaching staff is all under contract through at least next season. If there is a search, however, who would conduct it? That is the other major decision ownership has to make. Do they do an entire purge and move on from Karnisovas and Eversley? That has become a reality in the wake of the embarrassing Jaden Ivey ordeal.
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Adrian Wojnarowski: Clippers assistant Dan Craig is joining Billy Donovan’s Chicago Bulls coaching staff, sources tell ESPN. Craig spent the past four years with Ty Lue and the previous four under Erik Spoelstra with the Heat. He’ll team with Wes Unseld Jr., as top assistants for Chicago. pic.twitter.com/60161hJDvf
Adrian Wojnarowski: ESPN Sources: Wes Unseld Jr., has agreed to join the Chicago Bulls as Billy Donovan’s top assistant coach. Unseld Jr. spent the past two-plus seasons as the Wizards head coach after six years on Michael Malone’s Denver staff.
Adam Mares: Former Nuggets assistant Wes Unseld Jr is in attendance for Nuggets practice today
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Jeff Peterson’s former Nets will conduct a search at year’s end after parting ways with Jacque Vaughn midseason. The same goes for Washington after the Wizards elevated former play caller Wes Unseld Jr. into their front office, and interim head coach Brian Keefe is considered to hold a strong candidacy for the full-time position, according to league sources.
Kyle Kuzma said the team has benefitted in recent days from Keefe’s attention to detail — and also from knowing that their poor play led to Wes Unseld Jr. losing his coaching job. “It’s like more of a wake-up call than anything: understanding that when a change happens, there’s a reason why it changed,” Kuzma said. “I think everybody is coming together and trying to finish the year off strong. I think you guys (in the media) are seeing it just with the togetherness and just how we’re competing on a night-to-night basis the past three games.”
No single moment, no single loss prompted Washington Wizards executives to remove Wes Unseld Jr. as their head coach Thursday. The decision occurred because of an unmistakable pattern this season. Although many players made individual improvements, the team as a whole continued to struggle, with precious few exceptions. The defense looked inept. Players’ efforts often lagged. The same mistakes recurred game after game. And through it all, Unseld made no changes to the starting lineup when players were healthy and did not cut the minutes of underperforming rotation players.
The Wizards won only seven of their 43 games this season under Unseld, but the tipping point wasn’t the sheer number of losses. It was more about how they lost most of those games. Monumental Basketball president Michael Winger and Wizards general manager Will Dawkins could not envision things improving this season if Unseld remained as the coach. “It sort of became clearer that there was just this sustained something less than our most competitive selves,” Winger said during a news conference. “You just kept feeling it and seeing it, and Wes did, too. I mean, he saw it. He knew it. He felt it. And he gave it everything he had.”