Spurs tab Billy Donovan as lead assistant coach

Chicago wanted to retain Donovan, but after “extensive meetings with team ownership”, Donovan opted to depart. The Bulls will need to fill a lot of holes in their staff this offseason after they fired executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley earlier this month. Donovan went 226-256 as the head coach of Chicago for six seasons, which included one playoff appearance. He’ll likely have interest from other NBA teams, though he won multiple NCAA championships with Florida before making the leap to the pros and could certainly return to the college ranks.

The Bulls, who fell to 29-49 with a loss to the Suns on Sunday, have reached the playoffs once in the last ten seasons. Between the disappointing on-court results and the front office’s decisions, ownership has decided to move on from Karnisovas and Eversley. The question is how these changes affect the future of head coach Billy Donovan, who was believed to be a candidate for the North Carolina head coaching job. The Tar Heels have reportedly hired former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone. If Donovan stays, he may be in a position to have a greater say on personnel moves.

Due to condensation on the court, the Heat-Bulls game in Chicago has been postponed. No official makeup date has been announced yet, but that will be announced in the coming days. Both teams return to action on Saturday, with the Heat visiting the Pacers and the Bulls hosting the Mavericks.

Despite Chicago’s recent lack of on-court success, Charania reports that Donovan — who’s gone 195–205 over the last five seasons — is still viewed as a respected leader within the organization. He’ll remain in the Windy City for the foreseeable future as the Bulls embark on a long-term rebuild following the departures of cornerstones DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine.

Donovan was one of the coaches that the Knicks requested to interview to fill their vacancy, but Chicago denied them the opportunity. Now it’s clear why. Donovan is entering his sixth season with the team and appears to be in line for more. Prior to coaching the Bulls, he had five playoff appearances in five seasons as the coach of the Thunder. However, he only has one playoff appearance in five years with Chicago, and he has finished with a losing record in the other four seasons. Though he has a 54.8 career winning percentage, he hasn’t had as much success in recent years.

The count of interview requests the Knicks have had denied is up to five, with Donovan joining Chris Finch, Ime Udoka, Jason Kidd and Quin Snyder. On one hand, the Knicks are doing their due diligence in seeing what coaches around the league they could potentially speak with. On the other hand, New York is repeatedly getting the door slammed in its face. The Knicks are the only NBA without a head coach at the moment and should be in no rush to fill the position just a week after parting ways with Tom Thibodeau.

Pop has been away from the team for most of the season, and a February report from Shams indicated that he was unlikely to return in 2024-25. Popovich has been San Antonio’s head coach since 1996, racking up five titles, three Coach of the Year awards and an NBA-record 1,422 wins. Mitch Johnson filled in as the interim head coach while Pop was out and has been named as the new full-time coach.

Bam Adebayo, Paul George, and now two assistant coaches in Chicago. Hopefully this won’t be a repeat of the December-January stretch where the majority of the league entered protocols. The assistants didn’t travel to Milwaukee, and this won’t have a direct impact on any players, but it’s worth keeping an eye on in case other Chicago players enter protocols.

The Bulls have had so many players in protocols, so it was only a matter of time before Donovan found himself in them too. Chris Fleming will serve as the interim coach in Donovan’s absence. Chicago’s COVID-19 troubles haven’t gone away just yet.

This is a concerning bit of news, to say the least. The Bulls are scheduled to host the Grizzlies Friday night, but with the cancellation of practice it’s fair to wonder if that game will be played. As of Thursday afternoon the game is still on, but stay tuned.