Thunder Offered Donovan a two-year Contract

Sham Charania of The Athlethletic is reporting that the Thunder offered Billy Donovan a two-year contract before the NBA restart.

Billy Donovan had a deal on the table before the NBA restart, but ultimately turned it down.  According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Thunder offered Donovan a two-year contract.

The two sides decided to table their discussions till the end of the season then agreed to part ways on Tuesday. Before play started in Orlando, Sam Presti said:

"When we get the end of the year, we'll sit down and figure out what's best for him and what's best for us."..."I can't predict the future."

"I know the way we've approached it and how I'm looking at it, but at the end of the day, we have to take care of what's in front of us right now, then we'll get to that at the appropriate time and handle it like we handle everything else." 

What's next for the Thunder after Billy Donovan's exit? https://t.co/yCqwbyVqXD

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) September 10, 2020

Tuesday, Presti was asked if he was surprised by Donovan's departure and responded:

"The NBA has become a league of change, and it happens rapidly."..."I don't see it as a negative because a lot of time times when things happen that we may be hope didn't happen, there's something else that happens that's waiting in the waiting in the wings at some point in the future."

"I'm obviously disappointed it didn't line up for everybody, but I look back on that period of time very fondly and think about some of the big games we were in and performances that we had and even some of the things from this past season I thought was a great year, but I wouldn't say I'm surprised."

Two years doesn't seem like a whole lot of time, especially since Presti can't answer questions about the roster because there's not enough information about the salary cap or luxury tax. Rebuilding the Thunder could take three to four years; any coach who's going to take on that project deserves at least five years to see things come to fruition. 

Latest Inside Pass: OKC offered Billy Donovan a new contract prior to NBA restart, but it was not accepted. More on @TheAthleticNBA: https://t.co/mfIWiXt1Lo

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 10, 2020

The Thunder didn't feel that way, and as a result, Donovan is looking for a new place to coach. Every good General Manager has a list of people who they would like to coach their team in case of a change, time for Presti to jump into his contacts, and find the next man up. 

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With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa.