Taj Gibson's first day as a coach came with a phone call he did not expect to last as long as it did. One day after retiring from the NBA and being named an assistant on Tiago Splitter's Bulls staff, Gibson described how Tom Thibodeau, his head coach during his early years in Chicago, reached out immediately.

“Yesterday was such a whirlwind, but one of the first calls I got was from Tom Thibodeau,” Gibson said in an appearance at 14.3 The Score. “I thought it was going to be like a quick little 10 minutes. It went from 10 minutes to almost an hour and a half call.”

Tom Thibodeau called Taj Gibson on Monday to congratulate Gibson on being named a Bulls assistant coach.

Gibson figured it would be a 10-minute conversation. They ended up talking basketball minutiae and coaching for about 90 minutes. pic.twitter.com/LmbzDqKIfo

— 104.3 The Score (@thescorechicago) September 15, 2026

Article Continues Below

The conversation turned into something closer to a tutorial. “We were just talking about everything. Kind of like an uncle, he really was giving me the Q's and A's, what to do, what not to do,” Gibson said. “And that's one thing I always appreciate about our coaching staff, because it wasn't just a coaching staff, it was family.”

Gibson announced Monday that he was retiring after 17 NBA seasons, closing a career that began when the Bulls selected him 26th overall in 2009. He spent his first eight seasons in Chicago, finishing fifth in Rookie of the Year voting and placing in the top 10 for Sixth Man of the Year three times, including a runner-up finish in 2014. He appeared in 1,012 regular season games across stops with the Thunder, Timberwolves, Knicks, Wizards, Pistons, Hornets and Grizzlies, averaging 8.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.0 blocks.

His return to Chicago clearly means something to him beyond the job title. “One thing I love about our Chicago Bulls teams is how the organization deals with players that come back. It's a family,” Gibson said. “It feels good to be back around the family and a great organization. But the even bigger family is Chicago people. I'm just happy to see Chicago people back again.”

Gibson joins a staff that includes Wes Unseld Jr., Blake Ahearn, Jamelle McMillan, Rex Kalamian, Jonah Herscu and Jordan Brink. Splitter takes over a Bulls team that went 31-51 last season and has reached the playoffs just twice in the past 11 years.