Boston Celtics
“There’s only team that I want to coach. That’s the Boston Celtics.”
According to longtime NBA insider Marc Stein, the Knicks spent some time looking into whether or not there was a way they could pry Joe Mazzulla away from the Celtics during the offseason.
The Knicks fired coach Tom Thibodeau after they beat the Celtics and made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2000. They ultimately hired two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown as his replacement.
“Yet it has also been whispered that the Knicks likely did some backchannel exploration to determine if there was any pathway to pursue Boston’s Joe Mazzulla,” Stein wrote. “There obviously was not … and then the Celtics extended Mazzulla’s contract in August.”
Mazzulla was asked about the report during a recent appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak and Bertrand.”
“That never reached me,” Mazzulla said. “And there’s only one team that I want to coach. That’s the Boston Celtics. I’m going to be here for however long ownership and the city will have me, but there’s no other team that I’m coaching.”
“It’s here or I’m going to go coach my kid’s soccer team or something like that, you know?” Mazzulla added. “It’s faith, family, and the Boston Celtics.”
Stein also reported that Mazzulla’s contract extension is believed among those in coaching circles to be a six-year deal, similar to the one Brad Stevens signed with the Celtics when he was brought on as head coach.
The Johnston, Rhode Island native is entering his fourth season as Celtics head coach. He won a title in 2024 and has made the playoffs each season. Last season was the shortest playoff run of his tenure, with the Celtics losing to the Knicks in the first round. Boston was already trailing in the series when Jayson Tatum ruptured his achilles tendon.
Mazzulla inherited a Celtics roster that had made the NBA Finals the year before he took over as interim coach following Ime Udoka’s suspension. They finished one win short of returning to the Finals in 2023, falling to the Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals before reaching the mountaintop in 2024.
Wednesday night will mark the first time the Celtics will begin a season without Tatum since he was drafted in 2017.
Mazzulla will have to adapt without the multi-time All-Star. The Celtics retooled their lineup after luxury tax implications incentivized them to move Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday during the offseason.
It’s a new challenge for the Celtics coach, who says he’s here for the long haul.
Sign up for Celtics updates🏀
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during basketball season.
