The 2019-20 Thunder vs. the 2024-25 Bulls: Can Billy Donovan make magic again?

Billy Donovan coached the Oklahoma City Thunder for five seasons. He came within one game of reaching the NBA finals in his first year behind the duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

Durant left to join the Golden State Warriors the following year, but Donovan oversaw Westbrook's historic triple-double season and brought the Thunder to the playoffs in each of his five seasons at the helm.

His best coaching job came in his last year in Oklahoma City when he helped a forgotten-about squad overachieve and earn a playoff berth.

That roster was built around a trio of guards: one veteran, one young budding star and one in his early prime. If that sounds familiar, it's because it is.

The 2024-25 Bulls will be led by their own trio of guards in Zach LaVine, Coby White and Josh Giddey. While the above description doesn't exactly match Chicago's three-headed backcourt this year, Donovan has a relatively similar group to work with.

That year's Oklahoma City team featured other key pieces that can be favorably compared to certain parts of this season's Chicago roster, as well.

Can Donovan take what helped that Thunder team punch above its weight and work the same magic with this year's Bulls squad?

Oklahoma City Thunder's 2019-20 season under Billy Donovan

The 2018-19 Thunder were led by Westbrook and Paul George. The team won 49 games and earned the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Unfortunately, their season ended in notorious fashion when Damian Lillard hit a deep three over George's outstretched arm and waived goodbye to Oklahoma City.

He also waved goodbye to that iteration of the Thunder.

That summer, George was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers and Westbrook was dealt to the Houston Rockets. The Thunder planned to rebuild around a giant haul of draft picks and guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The team received veteran point guard Chris Paul in the Westbrook deal, but Paul was coming off a down season with the Rockets and was entering his age-34 campaign. Not much was expected from him in Oklahoma City.

Then, what was supposed to be the first year of a rebuild became a 44-win season and a No. 5 seed in the West playoffs.

Paul had a born-again season. He played in 70 games, his most since 2015-16, and averaged 17.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.6 steals. He made the All-Star team, was named Second Team All-NBA and finished seventh in MVP voting.

A 21-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder in scoring at 19.0 points per game. Dennis Schroder came off the bench to average 18.9 points on 47/39/84 shooting splits and finished as the runner-up for Sixth Man of the Year.

Danilo Gallinari started 62 games and was fourth on the team in scoring at 18.7 ppg. The 6-foot-10 forward also pulled down 5.2 rebounds per game, which trailed only Steven Adams and Gilgeous-Alexander.

This year's Bulls don't have one of the best point guards in NBA history as Donovan did with Paul, but several similarities point to a potential surprise story coming out of The Windy City this season.

How the 2024-25 Bulls compare to the 2019-20 Thunder

The obvious connection is Donovan. After the Thunder traded away their two best players, the former collegiate national champion, along with Paul, molded together a young team that rallied to the postseason.

As far as pure point guards and playmakers go, Giddey most resembles Paul. He's an excellent passer who can facilitate on offense, whether that's off the dribble, in the pick-and-roll or in secondary playmaking situations.

White is the Gilgeous-Alexander of the bunch as a rising combo guard capable of carrying the Bulls as a scorer or as a playmaker for stretches.

While he likely won't be coming off the bench, LaVine is a pure scorer who fits into the Schroder mold as a bucket-getter who will likely lead the team in shot attempts, just as Schroder did for the Thunder.

Then there's Lonzo Ball, who can be a wild card in this group as he appears to be coming into the season healthy for the first time in two-and-a-half years. He's more in the Paul mode as a pure point guard with a high IQ who can knock down open threes off the catch.

Matas Buzelis is a 19-year-old rookie who didn't show any signs of an outside shot during his lone season in the G League, but he's a 6-10 combo forward with the theoretical scoring chops Gallinari provided Oklahoma City with five seasons ago.

(The elephant in the room here is that the Bulls don't have much size or paint presence at all, and certainly nothing like what Adams gave the 2019-20 Thunder.)

This isn't to say Donovan can lead this Chicago team to the playoffs. The organization shouldn't even want to reach the postseason. Unlike Oklahoma City, the Bulls aren't stocked with dozens of extra picks.

There's no house money to play with, no opportunity to see what happens this year without affecting future roster building.

Still, there are similarities between the 2019-20 Thunder and this year's Chicago squad. If nothing else, Donovan may be able to help develop his young backcourt the way he and Paul helped bring along Gilgeous-Alexander.

Anything close to that type of evolution from Giddey or White would change the trajectory of the Bulls over the next few seasons.

Is this scenario likely? No. Could it happen. Why not?