Charles Lee Joins Revamped Celtics Coaching Staff

The Boston Celtics are hiring Milwaukee Bucks Associate Head Coach Charles Lee as their lead assistant coach, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Lee is the latest name to join Head Coach Joe Mazzulla’s revamped staff in Boston, along with Philadelphia 76ers Assistant Sam Cassell.

Following Boston’s disappointing playoff run which ended in the Eastern Conference Finals, Celtics President Brad Stevens said Mazzulla would return as head coach next season, but said he wanted to surround the 34-year-old, first-year head coach with more NBA experience.

Less than a month later, Stevens has fulfilled that task in short order — twice.

Lee, who was a finalist for the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons head coaching jobs, served as an assistant under Mike Budenholzer with the Atlanta Hawks from 2014 to 2018. Then he left with Budenholzer to coach the Bucks, winning an NBA Championship in 2021. The 38-year-old is a highly regarded coach in the NBA, Wojnarowski said, with several other teams pursuing him this off-season.

Cassell, 53, has 14 seasons of NBA experience as an assistant and 15 seasons of NBA experience as a player.

Lee’s move to Boston is another development in an active NBA coaching carousel this off-season, one in which the Portland Trail Blazers appear to be holding pat with Head Coach Chauncey Billups and his staff.

Following yesterday’s hiring of Darko Rajakovic as the Raptors head coach, there are no more head coaching vacancies in the NBA.