The contract extension was agreed upon weeks ago. On Sunday, it was simply Bulls coach Billy Donovan putting pen to paper.
With the deal official, the Bulls have given extensions to the main players in the front office — executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas, general manager Marc Eversley and now Donovan.
The writing was on the wall as soon as the season ended after the Bulls lost to the Heat in the play-in tournament.
“We have a very good relationship with Jerry and Michael [Reinsdorf],” Karnisovas said in his exit interview.
“We take pride, especially in this building, in everybody being on the same page. It’s very hard to accomplish, but that’s how it is in this building between the ownership, front office, coaching staff, performance staff, so they have always been very supportive of my decisions, my thoughts, about this direction.”
The Bulls did get calls about Donovan during the Knicks’ coaching search, but he already had agreed to stay and, according to a source, never had any interest in the Knicks’ opening.
Donovan has a 195-205 (.488) record in his five seasons as coach of the Bulls. The team has made the playoffs only once since Donovan took over before the 2020-21 season.