The Portland Trail Blazers head coaching vacancy remains wide open following the recent departure of interim coach Tiago Splitter to the Chicago Bulls, resetting a search that had narrowed to assistants like Micah Nori and Tyler Lashbrook alongside veterans such as Jeff Van Gundy. New owner Tom Dundon’s unconventional approach has kept the process fluid, with reports of a broad candidate pool that includes both internal options and external NBA assistants plus former players and coaches. This lack of a clear frontrunner after the top contender exited has produced tightly bunched implied probabilities across numerous names, reflecting trader uncertainty over the franchise’s direction, roster continuity, and timeline ahead of the 2026-27 season.