NBA Rumors: Celtics Lose Notable Staffer Right After Finals Win

The Celtics’ roster is poised to look very similar in the 2024-25 NBA season when Boston will look to repeat as champions.

The same can’t be said for Joe Mazzulla’s staff though.

Jeff Van Gundy, a senior consultant for the Celtics’ 2023-24 championship team, is leaving Boston to become the Los Angeles Clippers’ lead assistant coach, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Van Gundy reportedly has a “strong relationship” with head coach Tyronn Lue, who the former coached with the Houston Rockets back in 2004.

Van Gundy returned to the NBA this season after working over a decade as a television analyst. The New York native amassed nearly 20 years of NBA coaching experience prior to joining the media, spending time with the Knicks and the Rockets. He’s set to join a Clippers team that secured the fourth seed in the Western Conference but lost to the Dallas Mavericks in six games in the first round of the playoffs.

As for the Celtics, Mazzulla will be tasked with backfilling vacancies on his staff this summer. Charles Lee soon will head to Charlotte to become the new head coach of the Hornets and Sam Cassell figures to be in the mix for prominent coaching positions over the offseason.