CHICAGO (WGN) — The Chicago Bulls are keeping Billy Donovan in town for the foreseeable future.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Bulls have signed Donovan to a multi-year contract extension with the team.
Chicago and Donovan began negotiations at the end of the 2024-25 season and continued those talks through this week of the offseason. A brief pursuit by the New York Knicks of Donovan entered the fold at one point, but ultimately, he decided to stay put, according to Charania.
Donovan is entering his 11th season as an NBA head coach, his sixth with the Bulls. He has led Chicago to just one winning season (46-36 in 2021-22) since being brought aboard ahead of the 2020-21 season. Before joining the Bulls, Donovan spent five years as head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he compiled a 243-157 record.
For some fans, the move is disappointing but typical of a Jerry Reinsdorf-owned Chicago sports franchise. Ownership’s stubborn loyalty to leadership keeps the front office in place despite mediocre results and a lack of spending. Rinse and repeat.
But while signing Donovan to a contract extension feels like more Reinsdorf monotony, the Bulls have shifted gears into a youth movement that has the team feeling like they have a consistent identity for the first time in years, though there are financial hurdles to clear if they want to keep the nucleus of their current core together.
After trading away Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball, the lone representative from the franchise’s previous core of players is Nikola Vucevic. He’s owed a shade under $21.5 million next year before he becomes an unrestricted free agent the following offseason.
In place of a trio like LaVine, Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan have come the likes of Coby White, Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis, along with 2025 first-round pick Noa Essengue.
White has blossomed into one of the better combo guards in the Eastern Conference. He averaged 20.4 points and 4.5 assists per game on a .45/.37/.90 shooting split, which included earning Eastern Conference Player of the Month in March after he averaged 27.7 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists in a 15-game span.
Giddey became a near triple-double threat any given night from late January to the end of the regular season. Over his last 31 games played, Giddey averaged 18.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game, which included a 28/16/11 performance in his final game of the year.
Buzelis grew into an effective scorer off the bench with a penchant for highlight-reel dunks down the stretch. Over his last 22 games, the Chicago-area native averaged 13.6 points and 5 rebounds per game on a 48.7/39.3/80.4 shooting split.
Donovan will now be charged with molding this new group into a run-and-gun team that looks to punch above their weight bracket during the 2025-26 season.