Veteran Bulls assistant coach Chris Fleming won’t return next season as part of Billy Donovan‘s staff, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that assistant Maurice Cheeks also won’t be back in a full-time role on the bench.
Confirming Charania’s reporting, K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago says that Cheeks is expected to have a position elsewhere in the organization. That decision was solely Cheeks’, Johnson adds.
In other Bulls coaching news, second-row assistant John Bryant is expected to move to the front of the bench for the 2024/25 season, according to Johnson, who notes that Josh Longstaff will be in the mix to become Donovan’s new lead assistant. Longstaff isn’t the only candidate receiving consideration for that role, however, per Johnson.
Fleming, formerly an assistant in Denver and Brooklyn, was the lone assistant on the Bulls’ staff who held that role prior to Donovan’s arrival in 2020. Fleming joined the team in 2019 after stints in Denver (2015-16) and Brooklyn (2016-19).
Cheeks joined the team along with Donovan in 2020. The former All-Star guard has had head coaching stints with the Trail Blazers, Sixers, and Pistons and worked for several years as an assistant in Oklahoma City.