CHICAGO - The San Antonio Spurs’ stop at United Center came with a little more than a game on the schedule. For Billy Donovan, it meant a short walk down the hall to his old Bulls office. For Tre Jones and Zach Collins, it meant facing a former home in a different uniform.
Donovan, who coached the Bulls from 2020-26, is now on the Spurs’ staff after taking an assistant coaching job with San Antonio this offseason. Jones and Collins are on the other side too, having been traded from the Spurs in February 2025 for De’Aaron Fox. So when these teams met in Chicago, the matchup carried a familiar feel for a few people on both benches.
For Spurs coach Johnson, that familiarity goes beyond a simple reunion.
“They’re on the long list of guys that were part of what we were building," Johnson said of Jones and Collins on Wednesday, "which is starting to see some of the benefits ... now.”
He added: “They’re part of the fiber of what we built.”
Jones and Collins were around during San Antonio’s rebuilding stretch, before and after Victor Wembanyama arrived in 2023. They were part of the young group that helped shape the Spurs’ culture during those years, even if they weren’t there to see the full payoff.
Johnson said their impact still mattered.
The Spurs’ coaching ties reached back even further in Donovan’s case. Johnson said he and Donovan spent time together in a video room with the Spurs’ G League affiliate, and the two were roommates.
“We were roommates," Johnson said. "We traveled around, spent a lot of time together. I got to know his family a little bit.”
That relationship eventually turned into a working one when Donovan joined Johnson’s staff over the summer. Johnson said the Spurs were getting more than just experience.
“Billy’s great,” Johnson said. “Great personality.
Ton of experience. Obviously, his talent and résumé precedes him ... we’re very fortunate to have him.
Probably mostly me.”
The Bulls weren’t the only familiar stop on San Antonio’s trip. The Spurs had already run into another former face in Portland, where Tiago Splitter has continued his coaching career with the Trail Blazers.
Splitter, who won an NBA championship with the Spurs in 2014, was on the opposite sideline when San Antonio met Portland in the first round of last season’s playoffs. The Spurs won that series in five games before going on a postseason run that ended in the NBA Finals.
Splitter made it clear then that his bond with the organization was still intact.
“I have big respect and love for this organization still,” Splitter said during the playoff series. “But at the end of the day, I’m doing my job. We want to beat them.”
He also had strong words for Wembanyama, whose rise has helped push the Spurs from rebuilding mode into a team capable of making a deep playoff run.
“He’s honestly one of those players that is going to change the game,” Splitter said. “There’s no (comparison) ...
I think he is changing the league. He was close to winning the championship last year.
I think he’s going to be one of the greatest that ever played this game.”
Splitter’s work in Portland has drawn praise from his players too. Deni Avdija credited him after he took over as acting coach.
“He got thrown in a difficult situation,” Avdija said ahead of the first round in April. “He’s done a phenomenal job. He’s getting the best out of all of us and we love playing for him.”
Johnson echoed that view.
“He did a great job in Portland,” Johnson said. “Just happy he gets an opportunity here with some runway to grow and build it out. Happy he’s got some good guys in his locker room.”
For the Spurs, the trip through Chicago and Portland has been a reminder of how many different people have had a hand in the organization’s recent path. Some helped lay the groundwork.
Some moved on to new jobs. One landed in Chicago wearing another team’s colors.
The connections are still there, even if they’re now separated by a hallway or an opposing bench.
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