Joe Mazzulla isn’t interested in feeding the Jaylen Brown conversation any longer.
On Thursday, the Celtics coach was asked about Brown during his weekly spot on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak and Bertrand,” and his answer made clear where his focus sits. Brown’s comments about the 2025-26 season being his favorite, despite Jayson Tatum missing most of it because of an Achilles injury, had already been picked apart by some as a shot at Tatum. Brown later said he was talking about the team’s growth and toughness, but the storyline has kept hanging around.
Mazzulla didn’t bite.
He said players should be able to speak honestly even when their words get viewed differently outside the building. He also stressed that Boston can’t control every reaction to what a player says. For him, the real priority is the trust and understanding within the locker room.
That answer matters because the Celtics are in the middle of a real transition.
Brown was a major part of Boston’s run and helped make the franchise one of the NBA’s most successful during his time there, even if he is now with the Philadelphia 76ers. Mazzulla acknowledged that history, but he also made it plain that his attention belongs to the team he has now.
He told listeners that spending time on subjects that have nothing to do with the 2026-27 Celtics would pull attention away from the group trying to build something together.
That’s a revealing stance from a coach whose team has opened the season 3-1.
Boston has already given Mazzulla plenty to work with in the first week. Tatum turned in a huge night Tuesday against Brooklyn, pouring in 40 points and drilling the winning shot at the overtime buzzer in a 125-124 win. It was another positive step in his comeback from the Achilles injury that limited him to 16 games last season.
The Celtics are also sorting through shifting roles for players such as Jordan Walsh, Paul George and Derrick White. Those issues, not an old Brown debate, are the kinds of things that need the staff’s full attention right now.
Mazzulla’s comments didn’t sound like resentment. If anything, he credited Brown for helping shape both his coaching career and Boston’s success. But he also drew a clean line: respect the past, then move on.
The Celtics will head to Philadelphia on Nov. 10, which means the Brown storyline could come back around soon enough. For now, though, Mazzulla is staying locked on the roster in front of him and the identity this Celtics team is trying to build.
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