Billy Donovan III Not Returning as Windy City Bulls Head Coach

The Chicago Bulls and Billy Donovan III have parted ways.

The organization announced the split with a Thank You messaged posted to social media on Wednesday afternoon. It's unclear at the moment whether the Windy City Bulls fired Billy Donovan III, the two mutually agreed to part ways, or Billy Donovan III chose to leave his post.

If one thing is for sure, the ties for Donovan III to the Bulls weakened over the last handful of months. After the Reinsdorfs chose to fire the front office of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley, former Bulls head coach Billy Donovan chose to depart the franchise. The Bulls were willing to keep the veteran leader around, even suggesting that they would only hire a new lead executive who was comfortable working with Donovan.

Nevertheless, Donovan chose to remove that burden from the franchise, walking away from the position. Chicago would go on to hire Bryson Graham as their new lead executive, who eventually named Tiago Splitter as the Bulls' next head coach.

Donovan III served as the Windy City Bulls head coach for two full seasons, taking over the duties ahead of the 2024-25 campaign. He would lead them to a combined 26-44 regular season record.

Thank you, Billy Donovan III pic.twitter.com/9IH5u3sGJD
— Windy City Bulls (@windycitybulls) August 12, 2026

Windy City Bulls Head Coach Gig Opens Up

Billy Donovan has gone on to accept a lead assistant role with the San Antonio Spurs. Naturally, this feels like the next team to keep an eye on for his son. This is especially true when we consider that Donovan III already has ties to the franchise. He once served as an assistant coach for their G League affiliate before becoming an assistant coach with the NBA squad in 2019-20, according to RealGM.

The Windy City Bulls will now hunt for a new head coach ahead of what could be a pretty important season. While the G League is often an afterthought, that will not be the case for a rebuilding organization. The Bulls are expected to continue adding developmental pieces into the mix, making their G League operations all the more critical.

This is presumably why one of Bryson Graham's first moves was to overhaul the Windy City front office with the firing of GM Josh Malone. He reportedly went on to hire Alex Kaufman as the new GM, whom he worked with in New Orleans.

Does this mean we're suddenly going to see the Bulls talking about the Windy City squad way more? Not necessarily. But a player like Jaylin Sellers showed some real flashes in Summer League and could become a real NBA piece with the right G League experience. Not to mention, who's to say No. 15 overall pick Dailyn Swain doesn't spend some time with the Windy City squad this season?

Noa Essengue is another key name to watch. He is coming back from a season-ending shoulder surgery and looked downright lost at times in Las Vegas. Nevertheless, there is a reason he was considered worth a lottery pick in 2025, and the G League could be a big part of trying to push him in the right direction.

Again, it may not be Priority No. 1 for this revamped Bulls org, but this will give them one more important seat to fill before the start of next season.

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