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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.
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
Josh Robbins: Bub Carrington is now the second player in Wizards/Bullets history to play all 82 games of his rookie season and all 82 games of his second season. The other person: Wes Unseld, who played in 82 games as a rookie in 1968-69 and 82 in 1969-70.
Bill Cartwright: When I came to the league, uh, who are the guys that I admired? I'm playing against Wes Unseld. I'm playing against Dan Issel. Here's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Here's Jack Sikma. My second game I played against Julius Erving. And by the way, I blocked his shot. I couldn't believe I blocked his shot. So when I came to the league, those guys were my heroes. So now I come to Chicago, it's like what… People are like, "What was it like to play against Mike?" And I'm like, “He was a good young player." So to me, my heroes are the guys that I played and saw when I was a kid. Rest of you guys are just young kids. You guys are young kids. I couldn't be enamored by you young kids. Because I saw John Havlicek play, right? Bob Cousy. I met Bill Russell when I was in high school. So I was supposed to be impressed by these young guys? Get out of here. My heroes are behind me.
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Jorge Sierra: Luka Doncic passed Wes Unseld, Bob Lanier and Andrew Toney in playoff scoring last night. He's No. 174 all-time now.
Bob Ryan: I was handed the Celtics beat at age 23 in 1969, which was a story in itself. I covered them for a first stretch of seven years, during which time they won two championships and had another season in which they won a franchise-record 68 games. Havlicek was the best all-around player in the league. From age 29 through 34, he averaged 43 minutes a game, twice leading the league in minutes played. He averaged 28 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists a game. He was first-team All-NBA four times and first-team All-Defense four times. And it is beyond dispute that nobody ran more. There was never anyone quite like Dave Cowens, on or off the court. After he had just grabbed 28 rebounds against Wes Unseld and Elvin Hayes, I asked Bullets coach Gene Shue what would happen if Kareem or Bob Lanier played as hard as Cowens. “Can’t happen,” Shue said. “Hustle is part of ability.”
Along with the Maravich card, six other PSA 10 "tall boy" cards from 1969 were purchased Thursday for player-record prices: a Walt Frazier rookie card ($252,000), a Willis Reed rookie card ($150,000), a Nate Thurmond rookie card ($114,000), a Wes Unseld rookie card ($111,000) and non-rookie cards of Oscar Robertson ($186,000) and Jerry West ($180,000).
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Tom Orsborn: Pop was asked for his memories of Wes Unseld. "I’m not sure I can tell you...what the hell. When I was GM, I called him and said, 'Hey, why don’t we do this?' And he said, 'Why don’t you go piss in a bucket?' I said, sorry, hung up...He was an intimidating guy at that time."
Josh Robbins: Bradley Beal (right quadriceps contusion), Rui Hachimira (sore right ankle) and Monté Morris (sore right ankle) were partial participants in the Wizards' shootaround in Miami this morning, Wes Unseld Jr. said. All three are listed as questionable to play tonight.
Ava Wallace: Bradley Beal (health and safety) will be OUT tomorrow vs. the Jazz, Wes Unseld Jr. said at practice today.
