Per Marc Stein, the Chicago Bulls are set to extend head coach Billy Donovan this summer.
The news came amid reports that the New York Knicks asked the Bulls for permission to talk to Donovan about their head coaching vacancy after they fired Tom Thibodeau following the Knicks’ loss to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals.
Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times has an update on those events and reported more unfortunate news about the Bulls. Chicago is set to extend Donovan’s contract, but that had nothing to do with the Knicks asking about the Naismith Hall of Fame head coach.
The Chicago Bulls likely extended the contract of Arturas Karnisovas
The Bulls were waiting to extend the contracts of executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley.
“According to a source on Wednesday morning, the Bulls were close to finalizing a contract extension for Billy Donovan and had been in discussions with the head coach since the season ended,” Cowley wrote. “Why the hold up? The source speculated that it was always going to happen, but Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley needed to be extended first and that has now likely happened.
“What was stressed is that the escalation of the deal getting done had nothing to do with the Knicks asking for permission to speak to Donovan about their coaching vacancy after they parted ways with Tom Thibodeau. Multiple sources indicated that Donovan had no interest in leaving the Bulls, especially for the Knicks position under the current regime, and told his bosses that when New York came calling.”
Billy Donovan likes the stability of the Bulls
Donovan didn’t like the dysfunction in the Knicks’ front office and ownership. He prefers the stability that comes from Karnisovas providing him consistently mediocre rosters that lose to the Miami Heat in Play-In Tournaments games.
Karnisovas has been with the Bulls since 2020. Donovan joined Chicago in 2020. SInce, the Bulls have missed the playoffs four out of five seasons, and appear no closer to becoming a championship contender than when Thibodeau was fired from Chicago.
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