SAN ANTONIO — He's yet to face the press, but he's already faced the players.

Two days into training camp, new San Antonio Spurs assistant coach Billy Donovan has begun making his presence felt. Standout rookie Carter Bryant, now entering his second professional season, has already found plenty of reasons to seek out the Hall-of-Famer.

"I've had quite a few conversations with him since he's been here so far," Bryant said during training camp on Wednesday. "(I've been) talking to him, picking his brain about guys he's coached previously and what I need to do to just keep improving my game."

Bryant's eagerness to learn is the kind of opportunity Donovan hoped to find when San Antonio came calling during its postseason run, anticipating potential departures from Mitch Johnson's coaching staff — particularly associate head coach Sean Sweeney, who signed a deal to become head coach of the Orlando Magic's on June 1.

"San Antonio had called during the playoffs," Donovan told a TV reporter in late August while hosting a skills camp with his son, Bryan, in Gainesville, Fla. "There was some thought that they may lose some staff members, and I didn't really know what to think of it."

It didn't take much to sell the veteran coach on the idea of joining a title favorite.

"I'm just hoping that in some way I can help and bring value," Donovan said.

Donovan, a 2025 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, brings 11 seasons of NBA head-coaching experience to the Spurs Antonio after stops in Oklahoma City and Chicago. Before that, he spent 19 seasons at Florida, where he tallied six SEC Championships and back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007.

Donovan's son, Billy III, will join the Spurs working in player development, per the team.

Donovan's arrival has also reunited him with Luke Kornet, who spent a part of a season playing under the New York-native with the Bulls in 2020-21. The veteran center believes his former coach's approach aligns with the identity San Antonio has already established.

"Billy's great," Kornet said on Tuesday. "I was with him in Chicago for a year, so he's a great coach. I feel like he'll fit in super well with what the kind of culture and identity are here."

Kornet especially values Donovan's honesty and willingness to hold players accountable, qualities that become increasingly important for a Spurs team looking to build on its NBA Finals appearance. For Donovan, it's another chance to earn an NBA championship.

"I always felt like, in my experience, he (was) straightforward and accountable" Kornet explained. "The goal was always to win, so everything was aligned to that. All the decisions came super naturally ... there wasn't really any second-guessing that."