Bulls coach Billy Donovan joins the class of '25 Naismith Hall of Fame
The Bulls have another Hall of Fame coach.
Phil Jackson was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame back in 2007 and Jerry Sloan joined that elite club in 2009.
Doug Collins, who coached the Bulls from 1986-89, entered the Hall in 2024 as a contributor.
Now, go ahead and put Billy Donovan’s name into that exclusive standing.
Donovan earned the honor on Saturday, joining the 2025 class after putting his name on the map as a guard for the Providence Final Four team in 1987, and then turning to coaching and registering 467 wins for the Florida Gators, as well as winning back-to-back National Championships for the university.
Donovan then took his talents to the NBA and Oklahoma City, posting a 243-157 record, helping the Thunder reach the Western Conference Finals in the 2015-16 campaign, and earning the Michael H. Goldberg Co-Coach of the Year Award in the 2019-20 season.
He joined the Bulls after he and the Thunder had a mutual parting of ways and has been in that seat since the 2020-21 season.
He was named a finalist earlier this year and found out his fate on Friday.
“I was at a shootaround and they said they were going to call between 11 AM and 2 PM, so I had my phone with me and we were finishing shootaround, and I was ready to do an interview with our radio guy (Chuck Swirsky), and I looked down and it said ‘Hall of Fame,’ “ Donovan said on a television interview. “I said, ‘OK, this is going to go one of two ways.’ They gave me the news and I was obviously thrilled and humbled and incredibly grateful.”
Besides Donovan, the Hall welcomed in Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, the WNBA’s Sue Bird, Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, and longtime NBA referee Danny Crawford.
“From a coaching perspective, when you’re sitting up here, you’re really only as good as the people around you,” Donovan said.
While Donovan has only gotten the Bulls to the playoffs just once (the 2021-22 season), he might actually be doing his best coaching job this season, losing All-Star DeMar DeRozan and All-NBA First Team Defensive player Alex Caruso last summer, and then watching two-time All-Star Zach LaVine shipped out on Feb. 2.
There was an initial rock bottom after the LaVine deal, as the Bulls lost six straight, but they have gone 14-13 since LaVine was dealt to Sacramento in a three-team trade, including an 11-6 record in the month of March.
All of that coming after Donovan totally changed the offensive style of play from previous seasons as one that used to be more methodical and attempting to focus on efficiency to one that is now an up-tempo, run-and-gun offense in which the Bulls entered the day ranked in the top three in pace (they were 28th last year), as well as one that is third in three-point attempts (42.2 per game) after finished 26th last season (32.1 attempts per game).
Donovan already had his jersey retired in February by Providence, so a season of good individual fortune continues. Donovan just doesn’t do individual fortune very well.
“As you kind of look through this stuff, I’ve been fortunate that I learned from an unbelievable coach in Coach (Rick) Pitino, maybe the best one out there, and he gave me an opportunity,” Donovan said. “I think about the assistant coaches that work with me, players that made the decision to come play at Florida, when maybe at that point and time it wasn’t a great deal.
“Yes, it is an individual honor, but there are a lot of people that helped me get to this point that I’m grateful to.”