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Jayson Tatum Shared Funny Reason Joe Mazzulla Wants Him to Be More Like Travis Kelce

Kristen Wong

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) and head coach Joe Mazzulla discuss a play against the Utah Jazz during the second half at Delta Center.
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) and head coach Joe Mazzulla discuss a play against the Utah Jazz during the second half at Delta Center. / Rob Gray-Imagn Images
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Of all the reasons to be more like Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, leave it to Joe Mazzulla to pick the weirdest.

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum was this week's guest on New Heights and he told Travis and Jason Kelce a hilarious story about one of his priceless interactions with his coach this season.

When asked what it was like playing for Mazzulla, Tatum immediately said, "Joe is crazy," which would align with the Celtics coach's well-known eccentric personality and more-bizarre-than-most media interviews. Tatum added that Mazzulla once told him to be more like Travis Kelce, but not for the reason you might think.

"We actually talked about you," Tatum said to Travis. "We played Portland the other day, I got a tech. The game was basically over, I ended up getting a tech with like 30 seconds left.

"Joe, he comes up to me after the game—if you get 16 or 17 techs you get suspended for a game—so Joe's like, 'Yo, can you just get four more so you can get suspended?'... He like, 'I would much rather you just come punch me. I wanna fight. I would love to fight... When Travis Kelce ran into Andy Reid, do that to me. Do that to me.'"

Travis, who turned slightly red from laughing so much and maybe also from embarrassment about that heated Super Bowl moment, gave Andy Reid a sweet shoutout for "being the man". There's nothing quite like a coach's special bond with his star player.

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Kristen Wong
KRISTEN WONG

Kristen Wong is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. She has been a sports journalist since 2020. Before joining SI in November 2023, Wong covered four NFL teams as an associate editor with the FanSided NFL Network and worked as a staff writer for the brand’s flagship site. Outside of work, she has dreams of running her own sporty dive bar.

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