National Basketball Association

Report: Florida's Donovan could be 'serious candidate' for Thunder job

Published Apr. 16, 2015 10:58 a.m. ET

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On the heels of one of the most momentous closing nights of an NBA regular season within memory, a rather large rumor bomb dropped on the Internet’s doorstep.

The Oklahoma City Thunder missed the postseason for the first time in six years after losing a tiebreaker to Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans, and are now considering excusing head coach Scott Brooks -- this according to Yahoo Sports/FOX Sports 1 NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wojnarowski also mentions a quite titillating replacement possibility: “If a change comes, University of Florida coach Billy Donovan could emerge as a serious candidate to coach Oklahoma City, league sources said. (General manager Sam) Presti has a longstanding friendship with Donovan, a two-time national championship coach who has been open about his interest in moving to the NBA.”

The Thunder’s season was impressive on a lot of levels. Losing defending MVP Kevin Durant for the season (after he played just 27 games) is a blow most teams couldn’t survive, and it doesn’t even scratch the surface of the Thunder’s injury woes this year. Serge Ibaka missed the home stretch, and their campaign started out with such a decimated roster that they crawled to a 3-12 record.

Behind Russell Westbrook’s eye-popping tear of the past few months, though, they finished 45-37. Missing the playoffs by just a fingernail would be an accomplishment in itself for most franchises. But the stakes have raised to title-or-bust in OKC, where they might need to make changes to persuade Durant to stick around as he considers his options heading into free agency in 2016.

Brooks has long been the preferred Thunder effigy for NBA analysts everywhere, seen as having an invaluable human touch with his players but lacking in the next-level court strategies his team may need to win its first Larry O’Brien trophy. Stay tuned as this story develops.

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