This past offseason, Billy Donovan and the Thunder mutually decided to part ways and the now-former Thunder head coach packed his bags to head north to the Windy City of Chicago.
He probably didn’t expect he’d be returning to his former home of five years so soon.
The newly-minted head coach of the Chicago Bulls will make his return to Chesapeake Energy Arena on Dec. 16 when his new team squares off against the Thunder in the first of two preseason contests. The second will be contested on Dec. 18.
Some of the youngsters drafted in the 2020 NBA Draft are still searching for apartments in their new home cities while the ink on quite a few free-agent contracts is yet to dry. Nonetheless, the 2020-21 NBA season is right around the corner.
The NBA released its preseason schedule on Friday, with the NBA’s individual clubs — including the Thunder — doing the same.
Each club will play at least three preseason contests and 72 regular-season games. Two of the Thunders’ three preseason games will be played against the team’s immediately preceding head coach, and under different circumstances, it could have made for an interesting grudge match.
Not so much in this instance.
While it will be interesting to take notice of how Donovan prepares his new team for the Thunder, preseason games are meaningless exhibition games in which coaches rarely play to win. He also wasn’t fired by the front office, so that minimizes the probability of there being any bad blood.
And aside from that, three of Donovan’s starters — Chris Paul, Danilo Gallinari and Steven Adams — have been dealt, as has the team’s sixth man, Dennis Schroder. Many of the team’s other rotation players, including Terrance Ferguson and Nerlens Noel, have also found new homes.
When Donovan returns to Oklahoma City for the first time as an opposing coach, he’ll see, first-hand, how quickly things can change in the NBA.