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Billy Donovan says the postgame incident involving Zach LaVine has been 'handled internally'

Bulls coach Billy Donovan has closed the book regarding the latest incident involving Zach LaVine.

Stephen Beslic

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Zach LaVine’s involvement in trade talks has put a virtual magnifying glass on his every move in recent weeks. After the Chicago Bulls’ comeback win over the Miami Heat on Saturday night, LaVine was seen brushing off a member of the team’s public relations staff and making a beeline toward the locker room.

According to numerous reports, the incident ticked off several high-ranking officials of the organization. However, Bulls coach Billy Donovan quickly nipped it in the bud when asked about it.

"It's been handled internally," Donovan said.

LaVine has already spoken to the staffer

The moment, which was caught by the broadcast, showed a female employee trying to convince Zach to stay on the court for some postgame interviews. However, he ignored her and headed straight to the locker room. LaVine has since spoken to the employee and apologized.

Donovan said he hopes that everyone in the organization—from the players to the medical team to the PR staff—can help one another do their jobs.

“Me being here for the time that I've been here, I really think we have good quality people,” Donovan said.

“That goes from players to medical to PR people. They're really great people to work with. My thing is I want everybody to treat everybody with class and respect and help each other do their job. We all have jobs to do. And they're difficult and demanding and there are emotions in that.

My wish would be that everybody helps each other in doing their job to the best of their ability.”

Same LaVine

Despite the pervasive rumors about his possible trade, Donovan said LaVine has remained committed to helping the Bulls get more wins. On Monday night, though, LaVine shot just nine times—a season-low.

“My conversations with him have been more about the basketball piece of how as a staff and myself can help him, what he's seeing out there, how he can impact the slow starts,” Donovan said.

Chicago Bulls fall to the Miami Heat 118-100

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Stephen Beslic
STEPHEN BESLIC

Stephen Beslic is a writer on Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. Stephen played basketball from the age of 10 and graduated from Faculty of Economic and Business in Zagreb, Croatia, majoring in Marketing.

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