Billy Donovan ‘encouraged’ by Patrick Williams’ performance in win over Pelicans

Over 24 hours, Chicago Bulls went from he was surpassed by the Minnesota Timberwolves with 35 points that they are the ones doing the poisoning. On Wednesday, the Bulls closed out the calendar year with a convincing 134-118 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

A game in which Kobe White, Josh Giddy and Zach Collins were out with injuries. Still, the Bulls played as a team, with eight players scoring in double figures. Isaac Okoro led the way with a career-high 24 points. Tre Jones scored 20 points with 12 assists. Matas Bouzelis arrived with 19 points. Nikola Vucevic scored 17 points with eight rebounds and six assists.

Jalen Smith had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the starting rotation. Meanwhile, Kevin Huerter chipped in with 13 points plus six rebounds, and Ayo Dosunmu had 12 points and six assists. Then, to round it off, Patrick Williams scored 12 points.

Speaking of Williams, his performance stood out, given that he is one of the players Bulls there is talk trade as the deadline looms on February 5th. Plus, Williams has received criticism for inconsistency and injuriesdespite drawing a big a salary of $18 a year.

However, the head coach of the Bulls Billy Donovan was totally impressed with Williams’ performance.

“I thought he played really well,” Donovan said. “He played great along the baseline, he had that dunk where he was fouled, he made a couple of threes. Defensively, the ability for him and Isaac (Okoro) to be outside, they got bigger bodies for a little bit of Zion (Williamson). But I thought he played really, really well. I was happy and encouraged to see that.”

“We need him and I thought he really contributed.” and really good way today.”

The Bulls coach told me he was “encouraged” by Patrick Williams’ performance tonight in the Bulls’ 134-118 win over the Pelicans.

Williams finished with 12 points and two 3-pointers. ⁦@ClutchPoints⁩ pic.tvitter.com/DABuoZEuZKS

— Zachary Draves (@DravesZachari) January 1, 2026

Patrick Williams has shown flashes of improvement.

Through 31 games, Williams is averaging 6.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. While that pattern of inconsistency remains a problem, the game against the Pelicans was no anomaly.

In November, Williams had two 11-point games against the New York Knicks (November 2) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (November 8). On December 3, he again scored 11 points against the Brooklyn Nets. Then, on December 12, Williams had his best game with 16 points against the Charlotte Hornets.

In games where Williams scores in double figures, the Bulls are now 2-4.