During an interview with NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, Zach LaVine refuted Billy Donovan’s claim that the Chicago Bulls had a team meeting after the first game of the season.
After the Bulls lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in their season opener, Donovan walked into the locker room and the players were talking. He said his players asked him to step out so they could speak, so he did.
However, LaVine doesn’t think the Bulls had a “team meeting.”
“A team meeting is when guys collectively call themselves in and talk about things,” LaVine said. “We didn’t have a team meeting, I think it’s a basketball conversation.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Zach LaVine, Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls Updates
The Bulls got blown out by the Thunder by 20 points. LaVine scored only 16 points while shooting 4-of-16 from the field and Nikola Vucevic got into a heated argument with Donovan on the bench during the game.
“You get your ass kicked on the first day and we’re having conversations from top to bottom,” LaVine said. “If we don’t want the coaches in there while we are talking, that’s not a team meeting, it’s players talking amongst ourselves. I don’t know if coach got that misunderstood or not.”
While Bulls players like Donovan as a person, they aren’t fond of his offense, league sources told NBA Analysis Network. Chicago players were told that the offense would be different this season compared to last season, but so far this season, the offensive sets are the same as last season.
During the 2021-22 season, when the Bulls won 46 games and made the playoffs for the first time since 2017, LaVine had a private discussion with Donovan about his lack of shot attempts in the fourth quarter, sources said. DeMar DeRozan was the closer for Chicago that season, and while LaVine was happy the team was winning, he wasn’t thrilled with being a spectator in the fourth quarter.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Zach LaVine, Billy Donovan, Chicago Bulls Updates
The Bulls have no plans to fire Donovan, sources said. However, if the team continues to struggle, DeRozan, LaVine and Vucevic could be traded before the 2024 February trade deadline and Chicago could embark on another rebuild.
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