Sorry Florida Fans, Billy Donovan Isn't Going Back To Gainesville - But Chris Paul Is 100% Getting Traded Now

Somewhat shocking news coming out of the NBA tonight. Clearly not the Heat winning, but rather that the Thunder and Billy Donovan 'parted ways.' You can read into that as you will, but it's always been clear that Donovan doesn't want a true rebuild and the Thunder are getting ready to build around SGA and some of those younger pieces they have. We'll get into that in a second, but first let's discuss Billy D and college.

He's not coming back to Gainesville. It doesn't matter how much Mike White fucks up an offense or slows down a team that should be running. He's not coming back. Hell, I don't think he comes back to college at all. It's not exactly a huge secret that Donovan prefers the NBA coaching gig - not having to recruit teenagers and convince them to come to your program where you're the second best program in your conference. It's not exactly the dream scenario. I'm sure he'll be linked to Texas, Indiana, Florida and whatever other decent program fires a coach in the next year or two. Because Donovan likely isn't getting a job as a head coach this year.

But on the other hand this is 100% happening

Chris Paul was an absolute stud this year. You could make a legit case for him as MVP based on what he did with the Thunder and exceeding expectations. He was that valuable. He also showed he can still play at a high level and will have interest. We're already seeing it with the Bucks - something that has been out there and amplified even more now. I don't necessarily know if he's going to the Bucks but he's going to get traded. The Thunder are going to work on this rebuild. They are already halfway there with how many picks they got from the Clippers, now they can get dangle Chris Paul out there and it's a win-win type scenario. Maybe you keep him for the first half of the year and hope his trade value keeps going up despite that $40+ million player option. Maybe you deal him this offseason, either way he's going to end up on a contender soon. 

PS: It's still insane that a year ago Billy D thought he was coaching Russ and Paul George for the next 5 years. What a quick, wild turn of events.