The San Antonio Spurs have made an important coaching hire, as they have brought in Billy Donovan to be the lead assistant to Mitch Johnson.
The Spurs lost former lead assistant Sean Sweeney to the Orlando Magic, as he became their new head coach. But San Antonio was quickly able to rebound and land one of the most experienced coaches in professional basketball by hiring Donovan, the former head coach of the Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
ESPN’s Shams Charania was the first to break the news about the Spurs hiring Donovan.
“Billy Donovan has agreed to become the lead assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs and head coach Mitch Johnson, sources tell me and @PeteThamel. After 11 seasons as a head coach in Chicago and Oklahoma City, Donovan accepts the position with the Western Conference champions,” Charania wrote on X.
Spurs Hire Billy Donovan
The 61-year-old Donovan has spent the last 11 seasons coaching in the NBA for the Bulls and the Thunder. Overall, his NBA record is 469-413 in 882 regular-season games (.532 win %). In the playoffs, Donovan has coached his teams to a 19-27 record in 46 games (.413 win %).
Donovan held a contract option to remain as the head coach in Chicago for this coming season, but with the team in the midst of a rebuild, he chose to exercise his opt-out clause and leave the team, getting replaced by Tiago Splitter in Chicago.
There were rumors linking Donovan to the Magic’s vacant head coaching job, but that role was ironically filled by Sweeney, who Donovan ends up replacing with the Spurs. Ultimately, Donovan will wind up in San Antonio, though not as a head coach, instead taking over as Johnson’s lead assistant on his coaching staff.
Before joining the NBA in 2015, Donovan was a long-time head coach for the Florida Gators and, before that, the Marshall Thundering Herd in NCAA college basketball.
Mitch Johnson Gets Veteran Voice
For Johnson, the Spurs’ current head coach, he gets a veteran voice in his ear to bounce ideas off during games, as Donovan is one of the most experienced coaches in the NBA.
Although Johnson was one of the finalists for the NBA Coach of the Year Award this past season after leading San Antonio to 62 wins and second place in the Western Conference, he made several critical errors during the postseason that led the Spurs to a loss to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
For instance, Johnson’s rotations were criticized at times, as was his overreliance on Victor Wembanyama, plus there were instances when De’Aaron Fox should have been taken out of the game and replaced by Dylan Harper. Although the Spurs losing to New York isn’t all on the coach, he certainly didn’t help.
With Donovan assisting him, the Spurs hope that Johnson can learn from his mistakes and follow in the footsteps of former Spurs head coaching great Gregg Popovich to become a long-time head coach for San Antonio who wins many NBA Championships with the team.
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