Billy Donovan’s college basketball comeback is off the table for now, and the next stop in his career is a familiar one: the NBA.
Donovan is set to join the San Antonio Spurs as their lead assistant coach, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Pete Thamel. That move keeps him in the league after he stepped down as the Chicago Bulls’ coach at the end of the season, despite being tied to several openings around basketball. It also ends the recent speculation that he might return to college, including the UNC job that ultimately went to former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone.
The Spurs hire marks a notable shift for Donovan, who has not been an assistant coach since 1994, when he was on Kentucky’s staff. He spent the bulk of his career building a massive college résumé at Florida, where he won two national titles and reached four Final Fours from 1996 to 2015.
After that run in Gainesville, Donovan moved to the NBA with the Oklahoma City Thunder. His first season there was his high-water mark in the league, as the Thunder reached the Western Conference Finals before losing to Golden State after surrendering a 3-1 lead. Since then, he has not gotten past the first round of the playoffs.
Donovan left Oklahoma City after the 2020 season and was hired by Chicago that same year. His best season with the Bulls came in 2021/22, when they went 46-36. Chicago then made the play-in round in each of the next three seasons but failed to advance every time.
This past season, the Bulls finished 31-51. Chicago had publicly said it planned to bring Donovan back, but he chose to step down after the year.
Now 60, Donovan heads to San Antonio with a chance to help a Spurs team that finished as the Western Conference champions this past season before losing to the New York Knicks in five games. In that series, San Antonio blew double-digit leads in every game.
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