Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan has signed a multiyear contract extension with the franchise, sources told ESPN on Sunday.
The Bulls and Donovan started negotiations at the end of last season and continued conversations through this week amid offseason planning, a brief pursuit of Donovan by the New York Knicks, and the draft, free agency and summer league, sources told ESPN.
Despite the Bulls’ struggles under Donovan, the organization values his strong leadership across every level of the franchise.
He will enter his sixth season in Chicago in 2025-26 with 800 NBA games coached over his career. He is 195-205 in his career in Chicago and 438-362 overall in 10 seasons as an NBA head coach.
Donovan, who had one year remaining on his contract, guided the Bulls to a second straight 39-43 record last season, finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference and losing in the play-in tournament for the third year in a row.
The Bulls have had only one playoff appearance in the past five seasons.
Donovan, who won two national championships at Florida prior to making the jump to the NBA, will be enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame during ceremonies on Sept. 5-6 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, and the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
He left the college ranks to coach the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015 before joining the Bulls in 2020.
Donovan began his coaching career as an assistant at Kentucky under Rick Pitino from 1989 to 1993.
