The NBA has announced that Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has won the 2025-26 Coach of the Year award.
He led the Celtics to a 56-win regular season after losing multiple rotation pieces last summer and dealing with the long-term absence of superstar Jayson Tatum.
Boston finished the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, though they were upset by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round, blowing a 3-1 series lead.
BSJ Analysis
This was inevitable. And it doesn't seem like a coincidence that the NBA decided to delay the Coach of the Year announcement as much as they did.
After the regular season ended -- and more importantly, before the playoffs even began -- it looked like Mazzulla was going to win this award.
Based on the choices of the media voters that were slipping out via podcasts, social media, or articles, Mazzulla's case quickly became more than a case. He was getting a ton of votes.
Obviously, those voters had no idea what would happen just a few weeks after the regular season wrapped up. The Celtics were up 3-1 on the Sixers, but Joel Embiid's return and a lack of shot-making led to their eventual doom.
And Mazzulla is not void of blame. Anything but. His reluctance to test out different lineups, trust the bench guys, and switch up coverages was a big reason the Celtics fumbled away their lead.
It wasn't solely his fault, but he definitely carried a big piece of the blame pie once the series ended.
That said, Mazzulla still deserves Coach of the Year.
He may believe the award is stupid -- and maybe it is -- but based on the way the honor has been handed out in years past, Mazzulla is the obvious selection this season.
"I think it's a stupid award," Mazzulla said before Boston's game against the Atlanta Hawks on March 30. "They shouldn't have it. It's more about the players. It's more about the work that the staff puts in. It's that simple, and I don't ever want to be asked or talk about it again. It’s just that dumb."
Hindsight makes past realities almost impossible to digest, but heading into the regular season, many people weren't even sure Boston would make the playoffs. And those who had the Celtics as a postseason team likely saw them getting in through the Play-In Tournament.
Instead, Jaylen Brown earned All-NBA Second Team honors, Derrick White was named to the All-NBA First Team, and Payton Pritchard enjoyed a career season, helping the Celtics land the No. 2 seed.
But Mazzulla's Coach of the Year case stretches far beyond that. In fact, his best attribute as a coach -- and the biggest reason he deserves the award -- has nothing to do with any of those three players.
Because Mazzulla is right about one thing -- it should be