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Many NBA front offices have shown a short leash for head coaches, but the Bulls are going the other way.
Chicago agreed to a multiyear extension with head coach Billy Donovan, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Sunday. The exact length and financial details of the deal were not made clear. He first signed with the Bulls in 2020 on a reported four-year, $24 million deal.
Chicago has made the playoffs only once in five years under Donovan, and they have yet to win a postseason series. Donovan is 195–205 in his five years with Chicago, and the team’s lone playoff berth (2021–22 season) was also the only time the Bulls finished above .500 under the 60-year-old coach.
Donovan coached the Florida men’s basketball team from 1996 to 2015, winning back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007. He made the jump to the NBA in 2015, coaching the Thunder for five seasons before joining Chicago. Oklahoma City later replaced Donovan with Mark Daigneault, who led the Thunder to the 2025 NBA championship.
Zigging or Zagging
The head coaching position has turned into a revolving door across most of the league. The Grizzlies and Nuggets fired accomplished head coaches right before the 2025 NBA playoffs; the Knicks fired Tom Thibodeau after he led the franchise to its first conference finals since 2000; the Suns—who were in the 2025 NBA Finals—have brought in their fourth head coach in four years.
But Chicago has continued to trust Donovan, who was already the third-longest-tenured head coach in the league behind two with multiple NBA championships: the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra (17 seasons) and Warriors’ Steve Kerr (11 seasons).
Discussions between the Bulls and Donovan on a contract extension reportedly started this past season, despite the Bulls, for the second year in a row, finishing with a 39–43 record and a loss in the play-in tournament.
The Knicks pursued Donovan to take over for Thibodeau, one of many names the team was denied permission to interview. Others include Ime Udoka of the Rockets, Chris Finch of the Timberwolves, Quin Snyder of the Hawks, and Jason Kidd of the Mavericks—who is expected to receive a contract extension of his own before the start of next year, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
New York hired Mike Brown earlier this month.
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