NBA
Jayson Tatum’s trainer takes indirect swipe at Joe Mazzulla over usage rate
Joe Lyons is a sports writer and basketball expert for Basketball Insiders. Joe has a keen eye for the betting markets within the NBA and a great passion for the game of basketball. also been published by Nottingham Forest FC, working with the academy and senior teams to produce content on matchdays. He formerly covered the Premier League and EFL as an on-site reporter during the 2020/21 season for Prost International. He is an expert in a range of other sports including soccer, horse racing darts and American football. Joe specialises in long form SEO content alongside news, tips and betting.
All posts by Joe LyonsUpdated06 Jan 2025
Jayson Tatum’s longtime trainer Drew Hanlen appeared to take an indirect swipe at Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla following Boston’s defeat in Oklahoma City.
Celtics boast 49-3 record when Tatum’s usage rate is > 33%
Hanlen, Tatum’s personal basketball trainer who works with him each offseason and sometimes during the year, seems less than impressed with how the Celtics star is being utilised.
It stems around Tatum’s usage rate, which is defined as an estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while he was on the floor.
One X (formerly Twitter) user pointed out that since the start of the 2022/23 season, the Celtics have a record of 49-3 (77-win pace) when Tatum has a usage rate greater than 33%.
When that number is bumped up to 35%, Boston are an undefeated 29-0. In Sunday’s collapse to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Tatum’s usage rate sat at just 26.9% – and despite that, he still led the team in points (26), rebounds (10) and steals (2).
On the season, Tatum’s usage rate sits at 30.8% – the seventh-highest in the NBA and well below the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo (36.3%) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (33.5%).
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla is known to prioritise team basketball and in fairness, those methods are largely what recently led Boston to their first championship triumph since 2008.
However, some fans rightfully feel Tatum isn’t being utilised to the best of his abilities but that hasn’t stopped the 26-year-old from being the fifth-leading scorer in the league with an average of 28.1 points a night.
🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️ https://t.co/WzRIKjPPAK
— Drew Hanlen (@DrewHanlen) January 6, 2025
Tatum averages 36.1 points when taking 25 or more shots a game
Furthermore, Tatum averages 36.1 points a game when attempting 25 or more shots and in that sample his true shooting percentage sits at 60 with a record of 42-18.
The Celtics are an extremely well-balanced unit with elite talent across the board, but it does feel like Mazzulla could be doing a bit more to get the very best out of the five-time All-Star.
Tatum is on course for his fourth consecutive All-NBA First Team selection this year and as per the best online sportsbooks, Boston remain the title favorites to become the first back-to-back champions since the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018.
