After multiple seasons near the top of the Eastern Conference, Joe Mazzulla’s Boston Celtics faced a potentially devastating reality last offseason. With Jayson Tatum out for an extended period due to a torn Achilles and the team up against the salary cap, there was some thought the Celtics should treat the 2025-26 NBA season as a rebuilding year.
But that term doesn’t appear to be a part of Mazzulla’s vocabulary. Despite trading away Kristaps Porzingis and getting just 16 games out of Tatum, Mazzulla led the team to a 56-26 record this season, earning the Celtics the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
That performance also earned Mazzulla the NBA Coach of the Year award on Tuesday. Mazzulla beat out finalists J.B. Bickerstaff and Mitch Johnson for the award, which is the first of Mazzulla’s career.
Despite Mazzulla’s excellence — he has a .726 regular-season winning percentage in four years as a head coach — he had never finished higher than third in the Coach of the Year voting coming into Tuesday. After an excellent first season with the team, in which the Celtics went 57-25, Mazzulla lost out on the award to Mike Brown. Mazzulla finished third in the voting that season, also being beaten out by Mark Daigneault.
Mazzulla also got consideration for the award after the 2023-24 NBA season, when the Celtics went 64-18 in the regular season, but finished fourth in the voting. Daigneault won the award that year.
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After turning in another excellent year last season, Mazzulla did not receive any Coach of the Year votes.
Despite winning fewer games this season, Mazzulla likely won the award thanks to the team’s lowered expectations coming into the year. With Tatum out, the Celtics would need to rely on Jaylen Brown to take his game to another level, something that would prove tough considering his previous excellence in the NBA.
But he did just that, increasing his points per game to a career high 28.7 and earning down-ballot MVP votes. Brown’s performance, combined with the team’s defense once again turning in an elite performance, resulted in the Celtics outpacing expectations and surging up the standings.
Even with the team excelling despite Tatum’s absence, Mazzulla wasn’t a lock to take home the Coach of the Year award until late in the process. Bickerstaff was considered the favorite to win the award in April after leading the Detroit Pistons to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
But the sentiment eventually shifted to Mazzulla, who became a strong favorite to win the award shortly before it was announced.
While the award is a significant accomplishment for Mazzulla, one that further solidifies him as one of the best coaches in the league, it likely pales in comparison to winning another championship in the coach’s eyes.
Mazzulla, for all his greatness, has a tendency to downplay coaching awards, once telling Celtics guard Derrick White “nobody cares” after White congratulated Mazzulla after he was named Coach of the Month.
This story will be updated.