Billy Donovan, by and large, is considered a good basketball coach. At the college level he was indisputably great, transforming the Florida Gators basketball program into a powerhouse with his back-to-back National Championships in 2006 and 2007. Donovan was recently inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame because of his illustrious run with Florida, as well his contributions to the game of basketball as a former NCAA and NBA player, and current NBA head coach. Donovan is a true basketball life, but success has mostly escaped him in Chicago.
It is tough to have an exact measurement on sentiment, but the general national consensus appears to be that Donovan is a solid NBA coach with a roster that can’t compete at a high level. Sentiments in Chicago I would say vary greatly, especially among the casual basketball fan who would simply point to Donovan coaching the Bulls to the playoffs once in his five years with the franchise so far. Over five seasons with the Bulls, Donovan has compiled a 195-205 record (48.8% Win Percentage) and dealt with an awkward transition from playoff contender to half-rebuilding, perennial Play-In threat.
This led me to think, with Donovan’s solid-but-not-spectacular NBA reputation, and the general negative perception of the Bulls roster, exactly what would it take for Billy Donovan to get a serious consideration for the 2025-26 NBA Coach of the Year–as voted on by the media, Donovan was a co-recipient of the 2020 the COY Award presented by the National Basketball Coaches Association–with this roster? Let’s dig in.
Billy Donovan finished third in NBA Coach of the Year voting for the 2019-20 season, finishing behind second-place Mike Budenholzer and winner Nick Nurse. That season, Donovan received recognition for leading an Oklahoma City Thunder squad with low expectations to a 44-win season. That team went on to have a seven-game battle with the Houston Rockets in the first round, and while they lost, that OKC squad was an example of what can happen when a team has complete buy-in into their head coach.
That 2020 OKC team was a completely different talent level than the 2025-26 Chicago Bulls, but there are still some interesting parallels. Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander–who wasn’t THAT SGA yet–are far ahead of anything Chicago currently has, but that OKC Thunder squad’s reliance on three-guard lineups and surprisingly tough defense is a blueprint for what could lead to success for Chicago and Donovan.
Yes, the simple answer is more wins would allow Donovan to be considered for Coach of the Year (COY), but the true answer is a top-six finish would seriously turn heads, even in an injury-depleted Eastern Conference. That ‘20 Donovan-led Thunder squad finished as the fifth seed in the Western Conference. They defied expectations and played together all season. The Bulls and the quite-not-the-actual-postseason Play-In Tournament have become synonymous with each other. If the Bulls can defy expectations themselves, and break their annual Play-in tradition up with a playoff appearance as a top-six seed, it’s safe to say Donovan would receive a lot of respect from the NBA media and perhaps some more hardware to add to his collection.