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Bulls’ Billy Donovan agrees to contract extension
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- Bulls’ Billy Donovan agrees to contract extension
The post Bulls' Billy Donovan agrees to contract extension appeared first on ClutchPoints .
The Chicago Bulls and head coach Billy Donovan have agreed on a multiyear contract extension , according to ESPN's Shams Charania. It was reported earlier in the summer that the Bulls were working on a Donovan extension , and now the deal is done. The New York Knicks had made a run at Donovan after firing Tom Thibodeau, but Chicago rejected them .
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The front-office tandem of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley also reportedly got contract extensions this summer .
Billy Donovan's Bulls tenure
David Banks-Imagn Images
The Bulls hired Donovan in September 2020 to replace Jim Boylen, making the former Oklahoma City Thunder head man the third-longest-tenured coach in the NBA behind just Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr. The Spoelstra-Pat Riley duo is the NBA's only current head coach-head basketball executive partnership that has been going longer than Donovan and Karnisovas.
This is despite a notable lack of success in Chicago over these years. Karnisovas made splashes when he rebuilt the team in 2021, first trading for Nikola Vucevic at the trade deadline and then acquiring DeMar DeRozan , Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso in the summer. The experiment worked at first in the 2021-22 season, but Ball's ongoing knee problems set the Bulls on a path to mediocrity that they haven't left.
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Chicago has lost, ironically enough, to the Miami Heat in the play-in tournament three straight times. The Bulls have won just a single playoff game with Karnisovas and Donovan running the show while posting a 195-205 record over five seasons.
To Donovan's credit, he got Chicago to overachieve this past season before the ugly play-in loss to Miami. The Bulls won 39 games after many experts thought they'd win under 30, with Josh Giddey and Coby White putting up big numbers after the Zach LaVine trade to lead the way.
While many will question why Donovan is getting this extension given his overall track record in Chicago, the issues have mostly been above him with ownership and a front office that's viewed as one of the worst in the NBA. Donovan and Co. will try to change the narrative in the 2025-26 season, though the roster will look mostly the same as the Giddey contract stalemate wears on .
Related: Bulls rumors: Bulls slapped with harsh Nikola Vucevic trade reality
