{"id":427889,"date":"2025-12-06T03:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427889\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T03:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:17:12","slug":"chicago-bulls-billy-donovan-was-asked-about-the-big-giannis-antetokounmpo-rumor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427889\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Bulls&#8217; Billy Donovan Was Asked About the Big Giannis Antetokounmpo Rumor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6t\">When Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan sat down with the media on Friday night, he had to know what question was coming his way.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">The organization found itself caught up in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/bulls\/onsi\/news\/chicago-bulls-shocking-response-to-giannis-antetokounmpo-trade-interest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a shocking rumor<\/a> 24 hours prior. Long-time local sports reporter Lou Canellis claimed that Giannis Antetokounmpo had previously expressed interest in joining the Chicago Bulls. As shocking as that was to Bulls fans, the report only grew crazier. Not only did the Greek Freak apparently have interest in a trade to Chicago, but the Bulls turned him away. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">The concept of Chicago snubbing a Top 3 player in the NBA is incredibly hard to believe, so much so that many have questioned how accurate the report could be. Nevertheless, word has quickly spread around the 312 and beyond, which meant it came as little surprise that Donovan was asked for his thoughts. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">Cody Westerlund of 670 The Score <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CodyWesterlund\/status\/1997088127471472657?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">shared a video<\/a> of Donovan&#8217;s comments, who stressed that he never heard anything come up behind the scenes about Antetokounmpo.  <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"75\">\u201cI don\u2019t know about any of that,&#8221; Donovan said. &#8220;I would just say this, like I told you guys, I think they always, and I\u2019m talking about Arturas and Marc when I say they, when stuff presents itself that\u2019s real, they come to me &#8230;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">If there is something that can potentially happen that\u2019s on the table, something that\u2019s in the works or a possibility, they always come to me or communicate with me. But that situation with Giannis has never been communicated to me one way or the other. Whatever is going on there, they hadn\u2019t come to me with any of that stuff.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/01kbrpz3vczgcayp0cas.jpg\" alt=\"Billy Donovan of the Chicago Bulls\" title=\"Billy Donovan of the Chicago Bulls\" width=\"4800\" height=\"2700\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7h\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dec 1, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan looks on during the second quarter against the Orlando Magic at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images | Mike Watters-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>Billy Donovan Comments on Giannis Antetokounmpo Rumors<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">Now, would Billy Donovan blatantly admit that the Chicago Bulls front office rebuffed Giannis Antetokounmpo even if they did? Probably not. But he could have been a little less direct about the situation had he known something. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">Instead, Donovan was pretty insistent that he never heard anything about this potential pairing. And we do know that this front office has valued his opinion tremendously over the year. Let&#8217;s not forget that he is currently the third-longest tenured head coach in the NBA behind only Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr. He has been in lockstep with this organization ever since they surprisingly hired him in 2020. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7u\">Is it possible that the front office heard about Antetokounmpo&#8217;s interest and shut things down before speaking with Donovan? Maybe, but that does not necessarily feel on par with the trend they have set. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\">Likewise, if they actually did do that, one has to imagine Donovan would be pretty upset. Adding Antetokounmpo into the mix sounds like a dream for any head coach, particularly one who has seemingly always had a win-at-all-costs mentality. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"80\">Time will only tell if there is more to learn about this whole situation. Regardless of the report&#8217;s validity, however, what does appear to be true is that Antetokounmpo&#8217;s future in Milwaukee is murkier than ever. The bidding way for the two-time MVP could start at any moment, and doors rarely ever close in the NBA. If the Bulls want to get involved, there could still be a chance. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"83\">For more thoughts on what the Chicago Bulls could potentially offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo, be sure to check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/bulls\/onsi\/news\/chicago-bulls-best-offer-giannis-antetokounmpo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post from earlier this week<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan sat down with the media on Friday night, he had to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":427890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-427889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115670459718229453","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}