Central Notes: Buzelis, Donovan, Giddey, Allen, Stewart
Amid rumors about Billy Donovan‘s future with the Bulls, second-year forward Matas Buzelis made it clear he hopes Donovan remains in his role as head coach next season, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
“He’s been everything, man,” Buzelis said. “He’s been a role model to me; he’s someone I look up to as a person, as a human being. He’s a guy that’s been a cornerstone for me. He’s pushed me to my limits, and he’s going to keep pushing me until I can’t be pushed anymore.
“I can’t thank somebody like that enough. He tells you the truth every time. It’s hard to do that, especially in this league, to have someone in your corner that is going to tell you everything you need to hear.”
Here’s more from around the Central Division:
- Bulls guard Josh Giddey hopes the team is able to “keep playing the right way” to close out the season, Cowley writes in another story. Giddey acknowledged Chicago’s roster situation is a little unusual with so many impending free agents. “I’m not going to speak for other guys because I know how it is to be in a contract year, and individually you are always worried about yourself,” said Giddey, who signed a four-year, $100MM contract as a restricted free agent last year. “Everybody wants to play well, that’s no secret, contract-wise or not, especially coming into free agency. You want to perform, you want your visibility to be as high as possible, so I get it from that point of view. But it’s important to make everything about the team. It’s easy for guys to waver and think about themselves. I was guilty of it, as well. I just think it’s important to let that stuff get handled in the offseason. Don’t drag it into the team. In stints I thought we played selfish ball [Wednesday] and started to get in one-on-one stuff, iso stuff, and it’s just not the way we play. It’s not sustainable and not how we have to win games.”
- Veteran center Jarrett Allen provided a major boost to the Cavaliers in Friday’s lopsided victory over Miami, writes Tom Withers of The Associated Press. Allen, who had missed the previous 10 games due to right knee tendonitis, had eight points in the first four minutes, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds in 18 minutes. Head coach Kenny Atkinson said the former All-Star big man would be on a restriction of about 20 minutes prior to the game, Withers notes. “It was great,” Allen said of his quick start. “Shoutout to Kenny, he drew up the first play for me. I usually don’t get the first play sometimes, but he wanted to get me going, wanted to get me back in the groove of things and from there, things just started rolling for me.” Max Strus, who was making his sixth appearance of 2025/26 following offseason foot surgery, led the Cavs with a season-high 29 points (on 10-of-14 shooting) in 23 minutes, Withers adds.
- Reserve big man Isaiah Stewart has been cleared to resume on-court activities, the Pistons announced in a press release. The 25-year-old center/forward is recovering from a left calf strain, last suiting up on March 13.
Bulls Eliminated From Postseason Contention
The Bulls were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention on Friday when they lost at Oklahoma City. Chicago (29-44) has nine games remaining and is 9.5 games behind Miami (39-35), the current No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference.
After another mediocre start to the season — the team was 24-25 through the end of January — Chicago pivoted to a rebuild by trading away several veteran’s ahead of the February 5 deadline. The Bulls have gone just 5-19 since the start of February.
Chicago’s roster could look quite different in 2026/27, as 10 of the 18 players currently under contract could be free agents this summer. That group includes third-year forward Leonard Miller, who has a $2.4MM team option for next season.
The Bulls are the ninth NBA team to be eliminated from postseason contention, joining Indiana, Brooklyn, Washington, Sacramento, Utah, Dallas, Memphis and New Orleans. The Bucks (29-43) will be the 10th and final team eliminated prior to the play-in tournament if they lose another game or the Hornets, Magic and Heat each win another game (they’re all at 39 victories).
Chicago is also currently ninth in the reverse standings, giving the team a 20.3% chance at a top-four pick and 4.5% odds at No. 1 overall. If the Bulls remain in that same spot when the regular season ends, they’d have a 50.7% chance of selecting at No. 9 in the 2026 draft.
Billy Donovan Addresses UNC Rumors, Says Focus On Bulls
Bulls head coach Billy Donovan‘s future has been a major subject of speculation of this week, with reports linking him to the open coaching job at the University of North Carolina and suggesting that he may be considering leaving his position in Chicago at the end of this season.
Asked ahead of Wednesday’s game in Philadelphia about the UNC rumors, Donovan didn’t explicitly deny that he’d be interested in the job, but said he’s focused on guiding the Bulls to a strong finish to the season, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic.
“My main focus is on these guys and this new team,” Donovan said. “I understand that there’s stuff out there, and I understand that there is going to be certain speculation. But, I have to concentrate on this group, and really, my focus is on what we’re doing here in Chicago, having a game (Wednesday), and traveling to go and play in a back-to-back.”
Before Donovan began being linked to the UNC vacancy, a Chicago Sun-Times report cited rumblings about the possibility that the veteran coach will step down as the Bulls’ head coach in order to take a year off and evaluate what he wants to do next.
While Donovan, who will turn 61 this May, didn’t confirm his plans one way or the other during his pregame media session on Wednesday, he acknowledged that the Bulls’ recent playoff drought has been frustrating. The team is headed for its fourth straight losing season and hasn’t advanced beyond the play-in tournament since 2022.
Donovan told reporters, including Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times and Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required), that he’d have to talk to executive VP of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas this spring about the ongoing rebuilding process and the plan to get back to the postseason.
“We’re pivoting right now,” he said. “A lot of it’s going to be me sitting down with ownership, with Arturas, just to find out — OK, what’s the next step? How are we all looking at going through this? What do we need to do to continue to improve and to get better?
“The biggest thing, clearly, with the moves that were made at the trade deadline was — how do we get out of the middle? And if we’re taking a step back, what do we have to do to take a step forward where we’re actually building something? We may have to go through a play-in again, but how are we going to get into the playoffs?”
As Poe writes, there’s an understanding within the organization that if Donovan isn’t enthusiastic about management’s vision for the future, a split is a possibility.
“I wanted to get into coaching to win,” the Bulls’ coach said. “How are we going to work to get into a place where we’re really competing? And how do we build this out going forward? Those are the things I think we need to talk about. Because, yeah — selfishly, competitively, I want us to be in that situation where we’re playing in real, legitimate (games). … I want to be in that situation. I understand that that doesn’t happen overnight or in a blink of an eye. It takes a lot of hard work and diligence.”
Bulls Rule Out Jaden Ivey, Jalen Smith For Rest Of Season
Bulls guard Jaden Ivey and big man Jalen Smith will miss the rest of the 2025/26 season, the team announced on Thursday (via Twitter).
Ivey, who was acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline, appeared in just four games for Chicago before being shut down due to left knee pain. There had initially been hope that he’d return to action this season, but the team says he’ll continue his rehabilitation work and won’t play again this spring.
Smith, meanwhile, has missed seven of the Bulls’ 14 games since February 24 due to a right calf issue. According to the club, he aggravated that injury in Wednesday’s loss to Philadelphia and will be held out for the final two-and-a-half weeks of the season in order to fully recover.
The fact that Ivey spent so little time on the court following the deadline deal sending him to Chicago clouds his future to some extent. The Bulls will have to decide this June whether or not to issue him a qualifying offer worth $8.77MM in order to make him a restricted free agent. Even if the team puts that QO on the table, the next step would be figuring out if a multiyear contract agreement between the two sides is viable.
Before making either decision, the Bulls will want to ensure they have a clear and complete understanding of Ivey’s knee issue in order to assess the likelihood that the former fifth overall pick will be able to recapture his old form. Ivey was having a career year for the Pistons in 2024/25, averaging 17.6 points and 4.0 assists per game with a .460/.409/.733 shooting line, before he suffered a broken fibula in his left leg that ended his season. His return in the fall was delayed after he underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his right knee.
Ivey lacked his usual explosiveness in 37 games for Detroit and Chicago this season, registering averages of 8.5 PPG and 1.8 APG on .445/.373/.809 shooting in a reduced role (18.1 MPG). He spoke last month about not feeling like “the same player I used to be.”
Smith’s calf issues appear unlikely to be a long-term concern. He’ll earn $9.43MM next season in the final season of the three-year, $27MM contract he signed with the Bulls as a free agent during the 2024 offseason.
Nick Richards and Guerschon Yabusele figure to play increased frontcourt roles in the short term with Smith sidelined. The Bulls have no shortage of options in the backcourt, where Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, Collin Sexton, and Rob Dillingham have all been playing regular minutes as of late.
Community Shootaround: Potential Head Coaching Changes
It’s extremely rare for an offseason to come and go without at least one NBA team making a head coaching change. Half of the league’s 30 coaches have taken over their respective roles since the start of 2024, an indication of the kind of turnover that’s typical of the position.
With that in mind, it’s worth looking ahead to the end of the regular season to see if we can get a sense of which head coaching positions might open up this spring.
We should probably start in New Orleans and Portland, where James Borrego and Tiago Splitter aren’t technically the permanent head coaches for the Pelicans and Trail Blazers, respectively. Borrego replaced Willie Green when he was let go earlier in the season, while Splitter took the reins in Portland after Chauncey Billups was arrested in October in relation to an investigation into illegal gambling.
Whether those two coaches hang onto their jobs through the start of the 2026/27 season remains to be seen, but Borrego has the Pelicans playing their best basketball of the season in recent weeks, and it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Billups reclaims his position with the Trail Blazers, regardless of how his legal situation plays out. Time will tell whether either of those clubs deems it necessary to conduct a coaching search in the coming weeks or months.
Elsewhere, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan‘s future has been the subject of speculation this week, starting with a report from Joe Cowley of The Chicago-Sun Times that cast doubt on whether Donovan will remain in Chicago beyond this season.
According to Cowley, there has been “growing speculation” that Donovan will step down from his position with the Bulls in order to take a season off and reevaluate his options going forward. It has been an emotional year for Donovan, Cowley writes, noting that the veteran head coach lost his father and mother-in-law within weeks of one another.
A return to college basketball is another rumored path for Donovan, with Jeff Borzello of ESPN suggesting that he’d be “at or near” the top of UNC’s list following Hubert Davis‘ exit from Chapel Hill. Sources tell Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints that Donovan would “seriously consider” the idea of coaching the Tar Heels if the school targeted him for the job.
Siegel (Twitter link) was also among the NBA observers speculating about Jamahl Mosley‘s job security in Orlando after the Magic – losers of six straight games – dropped Monday’s game to the Pacers, who entered the night on a 16-game losing streak of their own. While Mosley and the Magic have had to deal with a handful of injury issues this season, the 38-34 team has still underperformed relative to expectations after parting ways with four first-round picks last offseason for Desmond Bane.
Doc Rivers is one of the NBA’s most widely respected head coaches, and it would be a surprise if the Bucks were to unceremoniously fire him at season’s end, but he’s about to have a losing record across a full season for the first time since 2006/07, tweets Eric Nehm of The Athletic. It’s not all that hard to envision a scenario where he and the Bucks determine they’re better off going their separate ways and mutually announce that they’re “parting ways.”
Steve Kerr is another esteemed member of the NBA’s head coaching ranks and won’t be let go by the Warriors. However, he doesn’t have a contract beyond this season and it’s unclear how enthusiastic he’ll be to remain in his current role on the heels of a disappointing season in Golden State. A banged-up Warriors team would be lucky at this point to claw its way into the playoffs as a massive first-round underdog to Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
Among lottery-bound teams, Doug Christie of the Kings and Brian Keefe of the Wizards are also worth keeping an eye on. The Sixers will at least make the play-in tournament, but if they don’t advance any further than that, we’ll see if Philadelphia sticks with Nick Nurse.
It’s also not uncommon for clubs with championship aspirations to make a change after being ousted in the playoffs, even if they win a series or two, as we saw a year ago in New York with Tom Thibodeau, so it will be interesting to see which clubs are eliminated earlier than expected. While there are no playoff coaches in obvious, imminent danger, first-round exits would be discouraging outcomes for the likes of Kenny Atkinson (Cavaliers), Chris Finch (Timberwolves), Ime Udoka (Rockets), and Mike Brown (Knicks).
We want to know what you think. Which teams do you expect to hire a new head coach this offseason? Will it be a busy spring on the coaching market, or will we only see a couple clubs make changes?
Head to the comment section to weigh in with your thoughts!
Central Notes: Nance, Cunningham, Cavs, McClung
When the Bucks promoted forward Pete Nance to their 15-man roster, they dipped into their room exception to sign him to a new three-year, $5.81MM contract that exceeds a minimum deal in terms of both first-year salary and total years, Hoops Rumors has confirmed.
The Bucks used roughly $5.13MM of their room exception last summer to re-sign Kevin Porter Jr., and it has been prorating downward since January 10, but the team still had a portion of it left to put toward Nance’s contract.
Nance received a $600K salary for the rest of this season, well above his prorated minimum of $277,137. As a trade-off, the deal includes a non-guaranteed minimum salary ($2,497,812) for 2026/27, with a non-guaranteed minimum-salary team option ($2,707,612) for ’27/28.
Nance’s 2026/27 salary would become guaranteed if he remains under contract through July 4, 2026.
We have more from around the Central:
- In the wake of the NBPA issuing a statement criticizing the 65-game rule in support of Pistons guard Cade Cunningham, agent Jeff Schwartz added his voice to those arguing that his client doesn’t deserve to miss out on All-NBA recognition this season. “Cade has delivered a first-team All-NBA season,” Schwartz told ESPN’s Shams Charania. “If he falls just short of an arbitrary games-played threshold due to legitimate injury, it should not disqualify him from recognition he has clearly earned over the course of the season. The league should be rewarding excellence, not enforcing rigid cutoffs that ignore context. An exception needs to be made.” Cunningham, who was diagnosed last week with a collapsed lung, appears unlikely to make the five additional appearances necessary to meet the 65-game threshold.
- The Cavaliers beat Orlando on Tuesday for their fourth consecutive win, but head coach Kenny Atkinson expressed displeasure after the game with his defense, which surrendered 131 points in the victory, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “I just told the team in the locker room, if we’re going to play defense like this, we’re going to have a short playoff stint,” Atkinson said. “… We’re the number one offensive team over the last (several) games. But there’s two sides of the ball. We’re tilted one way right now. … You have to be good on both ends. You got to be top 10 (on) offense and defense; it gives you the best chance. We’re not.” Atkinson added that the “guys who defend” will be the ones who are part of his rotation in the playoffs.
- One of just two players in NBA history to win three dunk contests, Bulls two-way guard Mac McClung now holds another record. He’s the G League’s new all-time leading scorer across the regular season, Tip-Off Tournament, and postseason, having surpassed Renaldo Major‘s 5,299 total points, according to the league (Twitter link). Major still holds the NBAGL record for regular season points (5,058).
Injury Notes: Brooks, Williams, Ivey, Embiid, Shamet
The Suns could get a couple of starters back from injuries next week, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), who expects Dillon Brooks to return early in the team’s road trip and Mark Williams to be back later in the week. Phoenix’s road trip begins next Monday in Memphis and concludes the following Sunday at Chicago.
Brooks underwent surgery last month to repair a fractured left hand. The 30-year-old wing is four weeks removed from that injury, which was expected to sideline him around four-to-six weeks.
Williams, meanwhile, has been out since March 3 after being diagnosed with a stress reaction in his left foot. The 24-year-old center will be a restricted free agent this summer.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- The Bulls upgraded Jaden Ivey (left knee soreness) to questionable on Sunday before downgrading him to out. He’ll miss his 16th consecutive game Monday against Houston. According to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (Twitter link), Ivey recently returned to practice but he banged knees with a teammate and will be seen by a doctor on Monday night. Head coach Billy Donovan previously said Ivey, an impending restricted free agent, would travel on Chicago’s four-game road trip; that’s now up in the air after his new injury.
- Sixers star Joel Embiid went through Monday’s shootaround and also did some individual work afterward, tweets Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports. The veteran center, who is recovering from a right oblique strain, is expected to go through a more rigorous workout on Tuesday and will be reevaluated after that, Bodner adds. Monday marks Embiid’s 13th consecutive absence.
- Knicks wing Landry Shamet is out again Tuesday due to a tibial plateau contusion, also known as a bone bruise, in his right knee, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (All Twitter links). Shamet suffered the injury in Friday’s game at Brooklyn and sat out Sunday’s win over Washington. However, Bondy hears it isn’t serious and expects the veteran guard/forward to return “within a few games, if that.” Shamet has been a key reserve for New York this season, Bondy notes.
Bulls’ Anfernee Simons, Jaden Ivey Could Return Monday
Bulls guards Anfernee Simons and Jaden Ivey have been upgraded to questionable for Monday’s matchup with Houston, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network.
Simons has been out since February 21 after aggravating a left ulnar styloid fracture in his left wrist, which he originally sustained in training camp. Ivey, meanwhile, last played on Feb. 11. He has been battling left knee soreness; his official injury designation is patellofemoral pain syndrome, also known as runner’s knee.
Ivey has been ramping up his activity over the past couple weeks, with head coach Billy Donovan recently stating that the pain in the 24-year-old’s knee is gone. Although he’s only made four appearances with Chicago after being acquired in a trade with Detroit ahead of February’s deadline, the Bulls have signaled they want to retain Ivey in restricted free agency.
Simons was originally expected to be out Monday, but it sounds like he could return to action after missing the last 13 games due to the wrist fracture. The 26-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Big man Jalen Smith (right calf strain injury management) is also questionable Monday for the Bulls, while Isaac Okoro (right patellofemoral pain syndrome) and Guerschon Yabusele (left ankle sprain) are doubtful to suit up.
Bulls Notes: Miller, Smith, Ball, Okoro, Donovan
Third-year forward Leonard Miller has been a bright spot for the Bulls over the past couple weeks, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. The 22-year-old Torontonian rarely received playing time in his two-and-a-half seasons in Minnesota, but he’s getting an opportunity to showcase his abilities with Chicago.
Over his last six games, Miller is averaging 13.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in 29.8 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .533/.300/.872. The Bulls acquired him in the Ayo Dosunmu trade ahead of last month’s deadline.
“I mean, he’s got a really good motor. He’s good on the glass,” said head coach Billy Donovan. “I think, like any young player who did not really get a chance to play a lot early in his career … he’s got to get better in terms of the game plan and discipline, knowing the league, knowing who he’s guarding, those kinds of things.
“But I think he shoots the ball fairly well. He can put it on the floor some. I think he can be a very, very promising guy for us. I think what he’s done to this point in time, in a short period of time (of) getting the opportunity to play, he’s taking full advantage of it.”
The Bulls hold a $2.4MM team option on Miller for 2026/27. If they decline the option, he would be eligible for restricted free agency this summer.
Here’s more from Chicago:
- Big man Jalen Smith was disappointed in the Bulls’ effort following Wednesday’s loss to Toronto, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “We had no fight,” Smith said. “This is the third time we’ve played them and we’ve gotten punked. At the end of the day we just got to want it. We’ve got to have that fight and we have to have that grit. I honestly couldn’t tell you [why], it’s basketball so every day isn’t going to be perfect, but we’ve got to figure out what else can we do to impact the game. It’s just a mental game right now for us.”
- With the Cavs visiting on Thursday, Donovan reflected on last summer’s trade that sent Lonzo Ball to Cleveland and Isaac Okoro to Chicago, per Cowley. Donovan has been pleased with Okoro’s play and team-first attitude, but feels empathy for Ball, who is an unrestricted free agent after he was salary-dumped to Utah and subsequently waived by the Jazz. “I loved him as a player and a guy, and he was so cerebral,” Donovan said of Ball, who missed nearly three calendar years with a knee injury. “He was so selfless, that’s really one of the things I admired. To see him have to go through what he went through, to fight to get back, see what he’s going through now, that’s tough for me because it’s almost like what could have been, how good could he have been?“
- Dosunmu said on Tuesday that mid-range shots were “really prohibited” during his time with the Bulls, but Donovan pushed back on that notion, as Cowley writes in another story. Donovan pointed out that DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic all took a good amount of mid-range jumpers while Dosunmu was on the team. “I think you have to play to players’ strengths, so I’m a believer in the first part of the shot clock you certainly want to try and get something downhill to the basket, and generally what happens is when the ball gets into the paint and the ball gets sprayed out that’s when the threes are going to go up,” Donovan said in part. “Most of the time the mid-range stuff is coming off (isolation) situations. It’s late clock, a guy is stuck with the ball, and at that time you’ve got to manufacture and generate shots.”
With Knee Pain Gone, Jaden Ivey May Be Close To Returning
- Coach Billy Donovan plans to have Jaden Ivey accompany the team on its upcoming road trip in hopes that he can return to action, relays Bulls reporter Will Gottlieb (Twitter link). Ivey hasn’t played since February 11, but Donovan said the pain in his left knee is gone.