Thunder coach Billy Donovan broke from his discussion of young players adjusting from college to the NBA for a moment of self-reflection.
“I knew that, right? A couple years ago, knew what that was like,” he said last month.
Now a third of the way through Donovan's fourth season as an NBA coach, the Thunder has exercised the fifth-year option on Donovan's contract, guaranteeing it through next season. Four years after OKC plucked Donovan from the college ranks, the head coach has amassed a 169-106 record and three playoff berths in a league that spent almost a decade avoiding hiring college coaches to head its teams.