After missing out on a few candidates in the aftermath of John Calipari’s departure for Arkansas, the Kentucky men’s basketball coaching search now turns toward the head coach of the Chicago Bulls, Billy Donovan.
Donovan is currently in the midst of finishing up the 2023-24 season with the Bulls. Chicago sits on a 37-42 overall record going into Thursday night’s road matchup with the Detroit Pistons. After the Pistons, the Bulls have just two regular season games remaining on the schedule: @ Wizards (Friday, April 12) and @ Knicks (Sunday, April 14).
But Chicago’s season won’t end there. The Bulls have already locked up a spot in the postseason, but it’s tricky for those unfamiliar. With the new Play-In format (established in 2020), it gives more teams a chance to make the actual Playoffs. Franchises that finish 7-10 in their respective conference will battle it out for the final two Playoff slots — the 7-seed and 8-seed.
That’s what the Bulls will be doing next week.
As things stand, Chicago holds the 9-seed in the Eastern Confernce. With how the Play-In works, the Bulls would face the 10-seed Atlanta Hawks in a win-or-go-home scenario with Chicago hosting the Hawks. There is a chance that Atlanta jumps Chicago in the standings (only 1.5 games back) which would give them hosting privileges, but regardless, these two teams are locked in to face each other in the Play-In and the loser will see its season come to a close.
That game is set for Wednesday, April 17 — six days away. If Chicago loses, then Donovan’s season is finished. That would free him up for serious conversations with Kentucky if he chooses to engage. Donovan has said publicly he’s focused on finishing the season with the Bulls, but never explicitly turned down the idea he might be interested. While not a perfect situation, it would allow Donovan plenty of time to fill out a staff and roster before the transfer portal begins to dry up if he’s ultimately offered the UK job and accepts it.
From Kentucky’s perspective, if another hire isn’t made in the meantime, that would be the best-case scenario. Barnhart could then zero in on Donovan and prioritize him as the top candidate, even if it puts Kentucky slightly behind the eight ball. But what happens if Chicago beats Atlanta? Well, it would complicate things.
In that case, the Bulls would advance to take on the loser of the 7-seed vs. 8-seed matchup (the winner of that 7 vs. 8 game having automatically secured the 7-seed in the actual Playoffs). As of right now, that would mean Chicago takes on the loser of the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers.
That game would take place on Friday, April 19 — now we’re looking at over a week from today. But still not too far out if the Bulls end up losing that one.
A worst-case scenario for Kentucky in this situation (with the caveat that the program is still interested in Donovan at this time) would be if the Bulls beat either the Heat or the 76ers. A victory for Chicago would extend their season, gifting them the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference with a first-round matchup against the 1-seed Boston Celtics.
Barring an absolute meltdown from the Celtics (62-17 on the season), Boston will be expected to sweep that series in four games — anything longer than five games would shock most. The first round of the Playoffs begins on Saturday, April 20. Chicago’s first game wouldn’t be until the day after (April 21) at the earliest. Even if the series against Boston goes just four games, that would add another 8-10 days to the Bulls’ season and another 8-10 days that Kentucky would not be able to pry him away.
At that point, we’re looking at late April before Donovan’s schedule frees up. That’s likely too far out for Kentucky to continue a pursuit.
We can even take it a step further if we want. Let’s say for the sake of argument that the Bulls beat the Celtics in the first round. The number of games it takes wouldn’t matter too much in terms of the timeline — the next series would start around the same date in any scenario. The earliest the Eastern Conference Semifinals would begin is May 4 with the latest being May 6.
At that point, Kentucky simply couldn’t afford to continue considering Donovan — and it’s likely they wouldn’t — unless every other candidate turned down the job. So if Barnhart does intend to hold out for Donovan, the earliest the Bulls season would end is six days from now. If Kentucky has yet to hire someone between now and then, Chicago’s Play-In game on Wednesday might have more viewers from the Bluegrass State than expected.
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