All the talk in the lead-up to Tuesday’s clash between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena was about Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown’s relationship. Despite being teammates on the Celtics for nine seasons and enjoying success together, Tatum and Brown never appeared to be close friends, and weren’t on the best of terms when their partnership ended this past offseason.
While fans at large have obsessed over this lack of relationship, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla thinks that is down to a lack of understanding. In his press conference before that Celtics-76ers game, Mazzulla was asked what’s different about NBA locker room relationships that people on the outside don’t understand.
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“One, I’ll tell you right now, all 30 teams, it’s not Boy Scouts,” Mazzulla said, via Celtics on CLNS. “We’re not all just sitting there getting along, and everyone’s happy-go-lucky. I mean, that’s just not how the world works. So to think that a group of guys are just supposed to just be happy with each other all the time. This isn’t camp.
“We’re going after something that’s highly competitive and stressful, and there’s things at stake, and with that comes conflict,” Mazzulla continued. “Doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. You work through things together. Secondly, you got people that are single, married, divorced, kids, no kids. People have been traded four times. People haven’t been traded at all.”
An NBA locker room has players with different upbringings, who have different lifestyles and are at different stages in their careers. They might have great chemistry on the court as teammates, but might not necessarily get along off the court.
If you ask the average NBA fan to name the greatest duos of all time, Michael Jordan–Scottie Pippen and Shaquille O’Neal–Kobe Bryant will be common answers. We’ve found out in recent years that Jordan and Pippen didn’t have a great relationship, but they still won six titles together. O’Neal and Bryant had a rough relationship off the court, but still won three championships.
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In Tatum and Brown’s case, they took the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals five times, advanced to the NBA Finals twice, and won a championship in 2024. They might not have been the best of friends, but they were great together on the court. That’s ultimately all that matters.
Mazzulla, who led the Celtics to that title in 2024, says that as head coach, you have to bring together all these players with different experiences, but also give them space when needed. They won’t always get along, and that’s fine.
“I think the one thing I’d like people to understand is this isn’t supposed to be summer camp where we all just get along all the time,” Mazzulla said. “There’s plenty of times within a great culture, good culture, where you have disagreements. You have things where you say, ‘Hey, we could have done this better, we should have did this, we didn’t do that.’ That’s just a part of the competitive journey and going after greatness together.
“But they’re also humans,” Mazzulla added. “They’re people. They got guys that have been through a bunch of different stuff, and I think it’s important to highlight that and leave space for that. And there’s different personalities. There’s different opinions. The way they view the world is different.
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Mazzulla says he enjoys bringing together a group and creating a space where everyone understands and appreciates one another. It’s no surprise then that the 38-year-old has had so much success.
Mazzulla has a fabulous 248-92 record as a head coach. He won Coach of the Year in 2026 and will be a strong contender in 2027 as well, as the Celtics are off to a 10-2 start. They’re not missing Brown at all at the moment.
Speaking of Brown, he did provide some drama when the 76ers faced the Celtics. He ignored Tatum when he came to greet him pregame. There was no embrace postgame either. Brown dapped up all his former Celtics teammates except Tatum, who was notably giving an interview at the time. There is still some lingering tension here, but you’d imagine he’ll get over it as time passes.
