The 37-year-old coach is the fourth Boston coach to earn the recognition
Joe Mazzulla is the NBA Coach of the Year. The coach of the Boston Celtics, who will turn 38 on June 30, prevails over the other finalists, JB Bickerstaff, who led the Detroit Pistons to first place in the Eastern Conference and Mitch Johnson, Popovich’s successor on the bench of the San Antonio Spurs, led to second place in the Western Conference. The award, assigned by the votes of 100 journalists, refers to the 2025-26 regular season, therefore excluding playoffs. Mazzulla, 238-90 record (72.6%) in his four seasons at the helm of the Celtics, with whom he won the title in 2024, becomes the fourth Boston coach to obtain the recognition after Red Auerbach (1964-65), Tommy Heinsohn (1972-73) and Bill Fitch (1979-80).
Celtic revelation
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Boston won 56 of the 82 regular season games. A feat if we consider the premises, i.e. the absence for 66 games of Jayson Tatum, fresh from surgery on his right Achilles tendon and returning only towards the end, and the summer farewells to veterans Jrue Holiday, Kris Porzingis and Al Horford forced by the needs of the franchise’s salary cap. The Celtics secured the second seed in the East in the 2026 playoffs thanks to the superlative season of Jaylen Brown, included by the media in the second best NBA quintet of the season, and the performance beyond expectations of the entire team group. Derrick White confirmed himself among the best NBA defenders, Payton Pritchard was deadly coming off the bench and the Portuguese big man Neemias Queta went beyond initial expectations as a “patch-up” center in the absence of more illustrious alternatives. Of course, the elimination suffered in the first round of the playoffs, in Game 7, at home, at the hands of Philadelphia, weighs on the Celtics’ season, but it does not count for the awarding of the seasonal prizes, which are now all known. This was the last to be revealed. The awards are awarded in relation to the regular season because only 16 teams of the 30 competing qualify for the playoffs and the athletes, or in this case the coaches, of each franchise must obviously be eligible for the awards.
the words
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For once Mazzulla didn’t hide behind stinging “tough guy” phrases, but spoke of the genuine satisfaction in seeing his work rewarded. “In one of the first meetings of the season with the team group we said to ourselves that we would try to win despite everything (the transfers and the most successful player out of action, injured) without worrying about external evaluations in our locker room. The whole organization focused on the path of this team, on the attempt to win. Then we didn’t succeed in the playoffs, but I think that during the regular season the boys showed every day that they wanted to prove something (to those who doubted them). They improved, they fought giving everything to try to win. I thank my technical staff, during the long journeys, the many nights of work, I will always be grateful for their crucial contribution, I am indebted to my collaborators”. Mazzulla as coach of the year succeeds Kenny Atkinson, the now-and-then coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who won the award for the 2024-25 season.
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