Key Points
- Billy Donovan is joining the San Antonio Spurs as Mitch Johnson's lead assistant, per reports.
- It is his first assistant job in more than 30 years; he stepped down as Bulls coach in April.
- Donovan spent 11 seasons as an NBA head coach with the Bulls and Thunder.
- He won two national titles at Florida and entered the Hall of Fame in 2025.
Billy Donovan is joining the San Antonio Spurs as lead assistant to head coach Mitch Johnson, according to ESPN — a striking turn for a coach who won two national titles and spent 11 seasons as an NBA head man to take an assistant's chair for the first time in more than three decades.
Donovan, 61, stepped down as the Chicago Bulls' head coach in April after six seasons, and the Bulls hired Tiago Splitter to replace him. He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2025 after a career that included back-to-back Florida championships in 2006 and 2007 and NBA head-coaching stops with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Chicago.
The destination is the notable part. San Antonio are the reigning Western Conference champions — they beat the Thunder in a Game 7 to reach the Finals before losing to the Knicks — and they are built around 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama. Johnson, who succeeded Gregg Popovich, is a young head coach, and adding a Hall of Fame head man as his top lieutenant is a rare pairing. The Spurs have spent the offseason stacking veterans around Wembanyama, including Tobias Harris on a two-year deal.
The read is simple: this is San Antonio buying experience for a championship window that just opened. Donovan taking an assistant job at 61, after 11 years running his own benches, is a bet that another title run is worth more than another head-coaching search — and for the Spurs, a Hall of Fame voice next to a young coach and a generational center is cheap insurance.
Source: ESPN, CBS Sports
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