Why Billy Donovan Could Be Next Orlando Magic Head Coach

The Orlando Magic and Billy Donovan have been circling each other since before Obama took office.

Billy Donovan was once Orlando Magic Coach For A Day; not out of some fun internship program, but because he took the job one day, for just enough time to update his MySpace; he decided to return to Gainesville days afterwards to keep coaching the Gators instead.

Fresh off back-to-back titles in 2007, Donovan was one of the hottest names on the basketball coaching market; nineteen years later, he's still one of the most coveted coaches around.

After leaving the Bulls during their franchise makeover, Donovan has become the betting favorite to take over the now-vacant head coaching job for the same team he left at the alter two decades before.

Here's a few reasons why the 2025 Basketball Hall of Fame coach might not only get the Magic's head coaching job, but keep it this time for the foreseeable future.

Billy Donovan could Upgrade this Orlando Magic Offense

Paolo and Jalen celebrate — Mar 8, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) greets guard Jalen Suggs (4) in the first quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Billy Donovan's coaching tactics are proven at the NBA level over a decade of competitive play, normally getting the most out of lesser talent to push for the playoffs, through his tenure in Oklahoma City and Chicago.

His deepest post-season run came in his first go as NBA Head Coach, ending in an all-time classic 7-game series in Kevin Durant's last year in a Thunder uniform against the legendary 2016 Warriors, before KD joined his biggest foe later that summer.

Losing Durant for nothing was a huge blow; the Thunder pivoted by traded Serge Ibaka for Victor Oladipo and the draft rights to Domantas Sabonis, riding the Russell Westbrook Triple Double MVP Tour to the Playoffs. Donovan kept the team highly competitive at 47-35, only 8 fewer Wins than with Durant the year prior.

The Thunder went on to rack up 48 Wins the next year with Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony; then, 49 Wins the following season with Westbrook, George, and Jerami Grant.

After that, in 2020, the roster was flipped on its head to begin Sam Presti's epically quick rebuild, trading away Paul George to Los Angles in a deal highlighted by Shai-Gilgeous Alexander and Clippers' first round picks for years to come.

In one of Donovan's most impressive coaching ventures, Billy utilized his interesting mix of talent he had available, combining the guard scoring creator powers of Chris Paul, Dennis Schroder, and SGA in 3-guard lineups featuring stretch 4-scorer Danilo Gallinariiiiiiiiiiiiii (the only appropriate way to say his name), and reliable rim-roller Steven Adams, who somehow become the only Thunder player remaining on the roster from that original super team Donovan signed up for five years prior.

Donovan finished 3rd in Coach of the Year voting in that 2020 season.

Donovan generally had less talent to work with in Chicago.

When Lonzo Ball was healthy, Donovan proved a defense anchored by two defensive pests in Ball and Alex Caruso can spearhead an elite defense, ranking #1 in the NBA for months despite the starting lineup featuring Zach Lavine, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, three notoriously bad defenders.

Donovan's Bulls won 46 games in 2022, featuring his lone playoff appearance with the Bulls, but his five other seasons with Chicago resulted in under .500 teams.

What Donovan has shown over his career is a willingness to adjust on the fly, while generally having success maximizing the talent available, by scheming up different offenses and defenses based on his personnel, valuing adjustments rather than being stuck to any one system.

On the Learning Basketball Podcast, Steph Noh broke down some of Billy Donovan's sets in Chicago as of 2024 – Pistol, Elbow Splits, Chin/Princeton/ and 5-Out.

.@StephNoh breaking down some of Billy Donovan's favorite plays for the Bulls like Pistol, Elbow Splits, Chin/Princeton and 5-Out sets pic.twitter.com/Mm7U6pp4aR
— Ryan Kaminski NBA (@beyondtheRK) November 1, 2024

Beyond just better injury luck next season, Orlando could use more modern movement in their halfcourt offense, if their personnel is willing to do it.

Elbow Splits is a popular action for Steve Kerr's Warriors, where Steph and Klay would screen for each other and pop out for open threes off Draymond playmaking from the elbow. One could envision Paolo Banchero or Wendell Carter imitating this action from the elbow, with 3pt-ready guards like Desmond Bane, Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black screening for one another before breaking free for an open three, and relocating around the perimeter until they find one.

5-Out offense would stretch the floor for Orlando to very corner, if they choose to play 5 players who can execute that scheme, say with Banchero at the 5, Franz Wagner at the 4, flanked by guards and wings on the perimeter. A 4.5-Out system with Wendell Carter Jr. or Goga Bitadze in the dunker spot could be another variation of this for bigger lineups.

In the clip above, Steph Noh describes the Pistol set as 'like firing a player out of the gun', running down the court, spacing out – trying to get a 3-man action in the very early portion of the shot clock, Steph goes on to say the Bulls have done a ton of that a ton, but they just don't have the personnel to really pull off the modern offense that Bill Donovan wants to run.

How does the roster fit?

Franz Wagner — Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

So, could the Magic have that talent? If they can finally stay healthy, the roster is ready to go on paper.

Jamahl Mosley established a read-and-react system trusting its players to make reads and simple decisions with the goal of penetrating the paint and spraying passes out until a good shot is found, which is a normal, modern concept for every team.

When healthy, Orlando destroyed opponents on both ends in a system anchored by Franz Wagner, Jalen Suggs, and Banchero; unfortunately, Coach Mosley rarely saw those three together on the court, totaling about 25 games together through these last two seasons.

The Magic will never know how their paint-and-spray system could have been at full strength, because they barely saw it, other than the starting lineup racking up a +10 Net Rating over hundreds of minutes, rating as dominant as any starting unit in the league.

Billy Donovan would likely introduce more halfcourt sets and more movement off ball, which could unlock more open threes and drives for its best shooters. Hopefully for the Magic, this would create a better overall team shot profile than years prior, which would help them finally rank closer to league average or better as a 3pt shooting team.

Fully healthy, setting up an offense that maximizes the 3pt shooting of its sniper Desmond Bane to get over 10+ 3PA as open as can be, followed by a lesser but still high volume of threes for its other capable shooters (Suggs, Black) will help open up the paint as much as possible for its elite big wing drivers in Franz and Paolo, and play-finishers at the rim in Carter, Bitadze, and Moritz Wagner.

For this Magic team, Banchero's ideal role is as a playmaking hub in the paint surrounded by everyone else being off-ball movers around his scoring gravity at the rim, because he's less prone to off-ball movement as the rest of the roster; this idea minimizes his weakness while utilizing his strengths.

An offense that racks up a ton of free throws, shots at the rim, and paint-penetrating drives from its star scorers in Wagner, Banchero, and Bane, combined with a high volume of 3pt looks for its most efficient and versatile shooter in Bane, followed by Suggs and Black, will ultimately create a much more efficient offense by taking better shots on the aggregate, with better shooters and scorers taking them.

The main reason Orlando can do this is finally being healthy, and if they are afforded that luck, then maybe there's a handful of ways Donovan can build a system that maximizes the offense.

A defense anchored by Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, and Franz Wagner in an inverted way on the perimeter is a premise Donovan has found success with before as well, on top of Orlando's overall defensive talent being much stronger than that Chicago roster that Donovan coached to the 5th-best Defense of any team in 2023.

Billy Donovan teams have ranked highly on both sides of the ball, especially earlier in his NBA coaching career with the Thunder; his offenses ranked 2nd one year and 7th another in OKC, while he coached up a Top-10 defense four times, a Top-5 defense once, and the 13th-rated Defense once. In Chicago, his best two ratings were his 13th-rated offense in 2022 and his 5th-rated Defense in 2023.

2016 OKC – 2nd Offense, 13th Defense
2017 OKC – 16th Offense, 10th Defense
2018 OKC – 7th Offense, 9th Defense
2019 OKC – 17th Offense, 4th Defense
2020 OKC – 16th Offense, 7th Defense

Donovan's basketball resume shows he tends to get the most out of the talent available to him, he is willing to adjust his schemes on the fly to match the needs and strengths of his players, while keeping the offense modern, the floor spread, and the off-ball players moving.

There's a real chance Billy Donovan could give the Orlando Magic the offensive facelift it needs.

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