The NBA world suffered a seismic shift Saturday night as the Los Angeles Lakers traded Anthony Davis for Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks.
The team that lost to the Boston Celtics in last year’s NBA Finals traded their assumed franchise player for nine-time All-Star in Davis, and the basketball world was/is in a frenzy.
Well, everyone except for Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.
In the usual bluntness he brings to press conferences, Mazzulla followed suit in Sunday’s pregame press conference ahead of his team’s matchup against the Philadelphia 76ers.
As he sat down to begin fielding questions from reporters, Mazzulla immediately made his intentions clear about the trade.
“Don’t ask about the trade. I really don’t care.”
Joe Mazzulla: “Don’t ask about the trades. I don’t really care.”
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) February 2, 2025
Mazzulla, unfazed, is choosing to focus on his team and his team alone.
This is a great precedent to set as his Celtics have just survived a month of January that saw a 10-6 record.
Given Boston’s 16-3 start to the season combined with the standard of play that the Celtics strive to uphold, there is much room for improvement.
To close out January, the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference improved to 34-15 thanks to a clutch game-winner from Jayson Tatum to beat the New Orleans Pelicans.
Despite a 34-31 deficit in the first quarter, and despite Tatum finishing with a 10-21 outing from the field, Boston’s 26-year-old star got to his spot, spun around Pelicans defenders, and drained a mid-range bucket, leaving just 0.2 seconds left on the clock.
Mazzulla offered a trademark, less-than-thrilled response after the game.
“We didn’t play perfect, but it’s one of those games where if you win you’re happy, and if you lose, you’re not,” said Mazzulla. “So you just have to take it all. We had some well-executed plays. I thought we executed down the stretch.”
