CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Bulls coach Billy Donovan has known since last week that he would be a part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025, but on Sunday morning, he was still trying to fully grasp the magnitude of the honor.
“I still need time to probably process it all because you’re sitting there [at the announcement ceremony Saturday], then walk up there, and [Julius Erving] is there and Mike Krzyzewski is there, and you’re sitting there with Carmelo [Anthony] and Dwight Howard and seeing all these different people, and it’s like, ‘Wow, I’m in this group of people. What’s happening?’ ’’ Donovan said. “It’s, like, really hard to comprehend.”
He hasn’t had much time to mull it over, either. Donovan found out while the team was going through a morning shootaround in Oklahoma City, had a back-to-back after that, a few days off to prep for the Trail Blazers, then back on a plane for Charlotte on Saturday.
“To me, it’s still kind of hitting me in a way that’s hard to comprehend, and I really haven’t been able to totally process it like I’d like to, but I know I’ll have time to be able to do that,” he said.
In interviews Saturday, Donovan said it was all about the village that raised him as a player and coach rather than an individual honor.
“It’s just so hard to put into words because you get involved in the game, play the game as a young player, then you are so naïve at 20 years old just to think that your career is going to have you playing forever,” Donovan said. “Then all of a sudden, the reality hits you, and you’re sitting there saying, ‘OK, what’s my next career path?’ Then you get into coaching, and you’re not sitting there thinking, ‘OK, 35 years from now, this is what’s going to happen.’ You have no idea.
“There are a lot of things I didn’t have control over, and that is really humbling.”
Besides Anthony and Howard, Donovan was joined in the ’25 class by the 2008 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, Sue Bird, Maya Moore, Sylvia Fowles, Heat managing general partner Micky Arison and longtime NBA referee Danny Crawford.
Day-to-day hope
Guard Lonzo Ball (right wrist) missed his 18th consecutive game, and while there was hope that he was going to play Friday night against the Trail Blazers, his return now is more of an unknown than anything else.
“The goal is for it to be day-to-day, but it’s really hard for anyone to know until that wrist gets to a place that he feels like he can do it,” Donovan said.
Donovan reiterated that imaging hasn’t shown anything structurally wrong with the wrist.
There’s inflammation, but that’s expected with a unique type of sprain.
Time running out
The news wasn’t great for guard Tre Jones’ return, either.
He was still in a walking boot and running out of time with the regular season coming to an end.
“When [Jones] takes off [the boot], he’s got to be walking pain-free,” Donovan said. “If he’s not walking pain-free, they’re going to put him back in. We’re getting up against the clock with him quite honestly because he’s also going to need a ramp-up after that.
“We could run out of time with him. I don’t anticipate him being back any time soon.”