The Bulls apparently won’t be making any major front office moves.
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley are believed to have signed contract extensions, according to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Cowley notes that Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf never makes front office extensions public but a source told the Sun-Times beat writer that the front office duo needed to be extended first before a new agreement could be reached with coach Billy Donovan.
Drew Stevens of The Bigs (Bluesky link) first broke the news of the extensions for Karnisovas and Eversley.
Karnisovas commented shortly after the regular season that he felt his job was safe due to his strong relationships with both Jerry Reinsdorf and Michael Reinsdorf.
“We take pride, especially in this building, in everybody being on the same page,” Karnisovas said. “It’s very hard to accomplish, but that’s how it is in this building between the ownership, front office, coaching staff, performance staff, so they have always been very supportive of my decisions, my thoughts, about this direction.”
Marc Stein reported on Sunday that the Bulls and Donovan were working on an extension. According to Cowley, the Bulls are close to finalizing that deal and have been in discussions with the head coach since the season ended.
The Knicks were denied permission to speak with Donovan regarding their head coaching position but that had no impact on the Donovan extension talks, according to Cowley, who hears from multiple sources that Donovan had no interest in leaving the Bulls, “especially for the Knicks position under the current regime.” Donovan values the way the Bulls front office operates, as Karnisovas listens to his input on team matters and roster decisions. That likely would not have been the case in New York.
This will be the second time the Bulls have extended Donovan, who has one year left on his current deal.