It’s the “what if” that still bothers Billy Donovan.

The Bulls coach isn’t losing sleep over it or punching holes in drywall, but admittedly it still feels like an opportunity lost in his Hall of Fame career.

The return of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine to the United Center on Wednesday was a reminder of that.

Prior to the 2021-22 campaign, Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations was flexing his then-aggressive attitude, bringing in DeRozan, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso that summer, pairing the trio with Nikola Vucevic and LaVine.

The results were instant, as the Bulls controlled the top of the Eastern Conference going into a Jan. 14 game against Golden State, sporting an impressive 27-12 record. Not a complete sample size by any means, but one that definitely had legs.

That is until a leg gave out. Ball’s specifically, as his left knee issues began in that loss to the Warriors, and he was never the same. Neither was that roster.

There were teases with the group, and enough that Karnisovas let it play out way too long, but never anything like they had going that first season together.

That had Donovon very reflective with the Kings — led by DeRozan and LaVine — in town.

“Yeah, I feel that way because I was able to see the commitment that those two guys made,” Donovan replied, when asked if it felt like an incomplete part of his career. “The unfortunate part was — and I’m not saying how the year would have ended — but there was a very small sample size when we were whole. And the sample was a good sample.”

As Donovan pointed out, LaVine and DeRozan were the foundation pieces, but Ball was the heartbeat that really made it work.

“Lonzo, to his credit and being in the league for a while, understood the four guys on the floor,” Donovan said. “He understood how to get maybe Zach out in transition and in space. He knew when the game needed to be slowed, he would get DeMar and Vooch into spots. And then he and Alex were just monsters on the perimeter. When Lonzo went down, and Ayo (Dosunmu) did a wonderful job, but it’s hard for a rookie to come in and handle that. Coby (White) has the shoulder injury, Alex breaks his wrist, there were a lot of things.

“I would have loved to have been able to have seen that group stay whole to see what would have happened. Some of it, and a lot of it, was probably out of our control in a lot of ways, and it would have been great to have seen that group stay together and what it would have looked like.”

Staying the course

Forward Isaac Okoro didn’t love starting off scoreless through the first two games (0-for-8), but was confident it wouldn’t last. It didn’t as he had 10 points Monday and started off the game against the Kings 2-of-4 from the field.

“I’m a confident player,” Okoro said. “I know that I didn’t want to start the season the way it kind of started. I knew the shots I missed were makeable shots and I was going to continue taking those shots. I work on my game pretty hard, so me just having the confidence to keep taking those shots and eventually I’ll start making them.”