Celtics' Jayson Tatum Shares Telling Quote About His Relationship With Joe Mazzulla

The Celtics star says that he communicated with his coach a lot during a much-maligned Olympics run.

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum shared a telling story about his relationship with coach Joe Mazzulla. / David Butler II-Imagn Images

The Boston Celtics are preparing to defend their NBA title when the new season kicks off next month, and with training camp ready to get going on Wednesday, the team held its annual media day on Tuesday to begin the new year.

Celtics star Jayson Tatum had an interesting summer. First, he brought a NBA title back to the city of Boston for the first time since 2008. But the story became the fact that his All-Star teammate, Jaylen Brown, earned NBA Finals MVP instead of him.

Then, Tatum was benched in two games during Team USA's Olympic gold meal run, only furthering the narrative that he wasn't as important of a star as some make him out to be.

Naturally, the local media asked Tatum about Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla's reaction to the adversity that Tatum faced this summer, and his answer provides a telling look into the relationship that he has with his head coach.

"I talked to Joe a lot," Tatum said on Tuesday. "Joe was probably the happiest person in the world that I didn't win Finals MVP and I didn't play in two games at the Olympics. That was odd. But if you know Joe, it makes sense," Tatum quipped.

Tatum will not be short on motivation to prove his doubters wrong this season. Neither will Brown, who despite being named Eastern Conference finals MVP and NBA Finals MVP, was left off the Olympic basketball team.

The Celtics are the favorites in the Eastern Conference once again, and have plenty of motivation to defend their NBA title.

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