Celtics' Joe Mazzulla Wins 2025-26 NBA Coach of the Year Award over J.B. Bickerstaff, Mitch Johnson

Perhaps to his consternation, the Boston Celtics' Joe Mazzulla is the NBA's Coach of the Year for 2025-26.

As the regular season was drawing to a close, Mazzulla discussed the COY race in a way only he can.

"Don't need it. I think it's a stupid award and they shouldn't have it," he told reporters in April. "It's more about the players, more about the work that the staff puts in. It's just that simple. I don't ever want to be asked or talk about it again. It's just that dumb. The players play, it's about them. The staff works their ass off. I'm grateful to have them."

Unfortunately for Mazzulla, his work on the sideline was too good to ignore.

Many assumed the Celtics would be a fringe contender at best when Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles during the 2025 playoffs. Nothing the front office did over the offseason changed that perception.

Boston didn't get significantly worse, but trading away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis was clearly about easing the short-term financial burden and resetting a bit.

The Celtics players didn't get the memo that this was supposed to be a transitional season. The team finished second in the Eastern Conference at 56-26 and had the fourth-best net rating (plus-8.3) in the league, per NBA.com.

Before Tatum completed an incredible comeback and returned in early March, Jaylen Brown seamlessly assumed the role of lead star. He set career highs in points (28.7), rebounds (6.9) and assists (5.1).

Reigning Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard had no trouble moving into the starting lineup on a regular basis. It was the opposite for veteran center Nikola Vučević, who remained effective despite coming off the bench for the first time in his NBA career.

A steady theme of the Brad Stevens era, both when he was a coach and after he moved into the front office, is the Celtics being more than the sum of their parts. That perhaps hasn't been more true than in this season.

Not even the most diehard partisans in Boston would've pegged the team to reach 50-plus wins when it was rolling out Neemias Queta, Jordan Walsh and and Baylor Scheierman alongside the holdovers from the 2024 title run.

As much as Mazzulla wants to deflect the credit, his Coach of the Year nod is richly deserved.