National Basketball Association

Bulls Hire Billy Donovan

Published Sep. 22, 2020 7:14 p.m. ET

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After five seasons in Oklahoma City, Billy Donovan will now call Chicago home.

Donovan has agreed to become the next head coach of the Chicago Bulls, three weeks after the Thunder were eliminated by the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Donovan's split with the Thunder came as a surprise to the NBA world, considering he had guided OKC to the playoffs in each of his five seasons as head coach.

Upon the split, he released a statement through the franchise reflecting on his time in Oklahoma City.

In his first season as head coach, the Thunder reached the 2016 Western Conference Finals, where they fell to the Golden State Warriors in seven games.

His record during his tenure in OKC was 243-157 (.608), which is good enough for 16th all-time amongst coaches who have coached at least 100 games.

Donovan trails only Nick Nurse (.721), Steve Kerr (.709) and Gregg Popovich (.675) among active coaches. 

Now, the Bulls will hope that he can carry his winning ways over to a franchise that has missed the playoffs in four of the last five seasons, and features one of the youngest rosters in the NBA.

The Bulls finished this season 11th in the Eastern Conference with a 22-43 record, but the cupboard isn't bare in Chicago.

Rookie guard Coby White, the 7th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, was named to the All-Rookie team after averaging 13.2 points per game in his first season.

The Bulls also have high-scoring guard Zach Lavine, who averaged 25.5 points this past season, a career-high for the 6th year guard.

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