Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla called the Coach of the Year award “stupid.”

Now, he’s won it.

“I don’t need it. I think it’s a stupid award,” Mazzulla said back in March after being asked about the possibility of winning it due to the Celtics’ regular-season success without some of its stars, including Jayson Tatum, for most of the year.

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Head coach Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics watches during the second quarter of Game Five in the first round of the NBA Eastern Conference Playoff against the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden in Boston, Mass., on April 28, 2026. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The award’s winner was announced on Tuesday night, as Mazzulla helped lead the Celtics to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 56-26 record, finishing four games behind the top-seeded Detroit Pistons.

But Mazzulla wasn’t just calling the award stupid for the sake of it – he believed it should be a “coaching staff of the year” honor rather than one person getting hardware.

CELTICS COACH JOE MAZZULLA QUIPS THAT HE WISHED REF A ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ IN IRATE POSTGAME OUTBURST

Mazzulla, discussing the honor on Tuesday night, told NBC as much.

“The long nights, the trips, game plans, the video guys that are clipping up the film and coding it, the assistants who are putting in the game plan, I think there’s so much that goes into winning one game,” Mazzulla explained. “It starts with the players, but it goes to our staff. I feel bad that they’re not here — but forever indebted to the guys that we have that give up time with their families and their time to give us a chance to win every day.”

Mazzulla is the fourth Celtics coach to win the award, which is named after the legendary Red Auerbach, who won it in 1965. Tom Heinsohn (1973) and Bill Fitch (1980) have also received the Red Auerbach Trophy in their careers.

Boston Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla calls to players during the first half of Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks in Boston on June 6, 2024. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Auerbach helped lead the Celtics to nine NBA titles, including eight in a row from 1959-66, during his Hall of Fame career.

Mazzulla was able to capture that glory in 2024, as the Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks, 4-1, to notch yet another Larry O’Brien Trophy for Boston’s mantle.

Unfortunately for the Celtics, they were unable to make it far in these playoffs despite their stars getting healthy late in the season. They were shockingly bounced in the first round after losing Game 7 to the Philadelphia 76ers.

But Mazzulla, 37, is now the youngest head coach to receive the Coach of the Year award since the legendary Phil Jackson won it in 1975, per the NBA.

While Mazzulla wanted to point at his staff, Celtics president of basketball operations, Brad Stevens, praised his fourth-year head coach.

Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla watches the game during the third quarter against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., on Jan. 12, 2026. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

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“This is well deserved recognition and a testament to both Joe and his staff,” Stevens said. “With all of our unknowns entering the season, Joe did a fantastic job building and growing a team. He pours everything he has into competing at a high level, while helping players find the best versions of themselves within the framework of a team.”

Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff finished in second place, which is the same spot he found himself in after last season, and San Antonio Spurs leader Mitch Johnson finished in third place.

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Mason Greenwood is expected to depart Marseille in the summer transfer window, with former club Manchester United set to benefit

Manchester United stand to profit as Mason Greenwood closes in on his next move, with a departure from Marseille looking increasingly likely this summer. The striker appears poised to swap France for Roma after the club missed out on Champions League qualification.

Greenwood has scored 26 goals and 11 assists across all competitions in 2025/26, attracting interest from Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus. Roma, however, appear to be leading the race, having already made contact with the player’s father, with Greenwood reportedly keen on the project, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

The marksman looks set to bring his time in France to a close after Les Phocéens fell short of securing a place in European football’s premier competition. Greenwood completed a £26.6million switch from Old Trafford in 2024 after United concluded he could no longer remain at the club.

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The academy graduate was suspended by United when he was charged with attempted rape, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and controlling and coercive behaviour in 2022.

The 24-year-old denied the charges, which were later dropped, but found himself on the fringes at Old Trafford before joining Marseille following a season on loan at Getafe.

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United are understood to have inserted a sell-on clause in the original deal, entitling them to up to 50 per cent of any future transfer fee for Greenwood. Marseille are reportedly seeking £43m for the striker, who remains under contract until 2029 and are facing pressure to sell players after missing out on Champions League qualification.

The French club are said to be in a ‘precarious financial situation’ and need to complete several sales before June 30th to satisfy France’s financial regulator.

Turkish media reports suggest that Fenerbahce presidential candidate Hakan Safi is preparing to unveil Greenwood’s signing as part of his plans to revitalise the club. Roma are hoping their existing ties with Marseille will work in their favour.

Greenwood has previously stated his wish to stay at the Stade Vélodrome, although Marseille’s financial predicament may complicate matters.

Speaking after being named in Ligue 1’s team of the season, the forward acknowledged it had been a challenging period for the club.

“This season has sometimes been difficult collectively, especially in recent months,” he said. “But individually I think I’ve had a good season.

“There are some incredible players in this team of the year, so it’s nice to receive this trophy. Ligue 1 is a wonderful league. We play incredible matches and, for me, it’s one of the best leagues I’ve played in. I hope I can stay.”

Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package

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Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.

After an incredibly disappointing finish to their deepest playoff run in the post-LeBron James era, it felt like sweeping changes were going to be made for the Cleveland Cavaliers. This roster proved to be incredibly flawed, and the coaching situation seemed rocky at best.

Cleveland was left with a few branching paths as they deal with the most expensive roster in the sport. Rumors have swirled around a potential Evan Mobley for Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. Many believe that the backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden won’t work in the modern NBA, so one of them could be on the trade block. Also, Kenny Atkinson’s seat was incredibly warm, and it wouldn’t be a Cavaliers offseason without LeBron James coming home rumors.

They say insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, but that’s not always the case in the NBA. Letting a team battle through adversity and learn to play together is incredibly important at the professional level.

I don’t feel that the current construction of this roster can win an NBA title, especially after watching the Knicks, Spurs, and Thunder battle it out. Unfortunately, I’m not sure there’s a much better option for the Cavs. Everyone wants to hit the rebuild button, but fans and organizations sometimes forget how painful a rebuild can be.

Instead of letting rumors swirl, Cleveland sort of answered the unanswered questions as quickly as they could. Atkinson will retain his head coaching position with the Cavs, putting to bed the Jason Kidd-to-Cleveland conversations.

Cleveland also got themselves under the second apron by having James Harden opt out of his player options, and has essentially agreed to a reduced contract to retain him long-term. We won’t know the exact details for a few weeks, but it is rumored to be around 3-years and $90 million in total.

Brian Windhorst also reported that LeBron James would be unwilling to take a veteran minimum to finish his career where it began. Many felt that the Cavs would find themselves competing in the LeBron sweepstakes, but now that he confirmed that he won’t take the massive pay cut in Cleveland, they’re going to have to look elsewhere to drastically improve their roster.

Just one season ago, Cleveland won over 60 games before injuries spurred an early playoff exit. With how the Cavs have treated this offseason so far, don’t be surprised if they run back a very similar roster at the start of 2026. Aside from a backup point guard or center, the roster we saw close out this year is likely what we will see at the start of next season. I’m not sure I love that decision for Cleveland, but purgatory might be better than trying to rebuild with the new anti-tanking protocols.

Gary Sales shoots for men’s title No. 4. —INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The motivation for Gary Sales heading into the National Tournament of Club Champions (NTCC) presented by Lexus this year is far bigger than any he has had in a glorious participation in the event.

It could be a family thing for the ex-pro-turned-successful businessman this year.

“This will be her first time,” Sales told the Inquirer on Tuesday, referring to Marienelle, his wife, who took up the game during the pandemic and is now part of the starting cast of the most exclusive tournament in the land. “She will be there for the experience [this year]. But who knows?”

Gary is the defending men’s champion, and he and Marienelle will try to defy the odds and become the first husband and wife tandem to win the event as both jockey for rankings in their respective divisions in an 18-hole round at the Faldo course of Eagle Ridge.

Rodel Mangulabnan has become the prohibitive seniors division favorite with defending champion Abe Rosal begging off, and Marienelle will have to topple big names in the women’s game, like the seasoned Matet Salivio, if she wants a Cinderella finish.

Gary will be representing the host venue for the second time at the event. His three previous championships, counting two won in back-to-back style, were for Villamor, where he operates one of the best pro shops in the land.

“It’s going to be a very tough week,” Gary added, admitting that he has been more occupied with business and the remodeling of a newly acquired property in Parañaque. “There are a lot of players in the field who can really win this thing.”

Gab Macalaguim, the Tagaytay Highlands champion, Basti Lorenzo of Sta. Elena, Jonar Austria of Lakewood, Orchard’s Chucho Martinez, Manfred Guangko of Manila Southwoods, Justin Tambunting of Alabang and Henry Bolano of Royal Northwoods are among the players to watch in the men’s division.

Southwoods’ Joseph Tambunting is in the Senior division, like Abe Avena, the Mount Malarayat representative and Wack Wack’s Marvin Caparros, who are all expected to crowd Mangulabnan for top honors. INQ

When Jessica Davies, wife of Australian batter Travis Head, recently spoke about the torrent of online abuse directed at her family after her husband’s on-field skirmish with Virat Kohli, it wasn’t merely another episode of fan rivalry crossing the line. Nor was Shrestha Iyer’s anguished reaction after being viciously targeted for appearing in a light-hearted social media video with Punjab Kings’ content team. These are not isolated cases of “passionate fandom” turning ugly. They are symptoms of a toxic ecosystem – an organised, monetised, and now uncontrollable hate industry that cricket’s peripheral commercial machinery knowingly helped create over the past decade.

What began as aggressive social media marketing has gradually mutated into a Frankenstein’s monster. “There are agencies that can charge anything between Rs 25,000 to Rs 2 lakh for spreading unmitigated hatred against a particular player,” an industry insider told PTI.

“To run a campaign, customised stats could be given. Now it’s up to them to make the topic trend. Obviously, the rates will be different for hours of trending and trending for days,” the insider added.

The social media game around cricketers changed dramatically nearly a decade ago when platforms stopped being merely tools of engagement and became commercial goldmines.

A player’s social media following increasingly determined the value of his digital endorsement deals at a time when traditional advertising revenue through linear television began shrinking.

One viral hashtag could translate into endorsement deals worth crores. And that’s when the ecosystem changed permanently.

“And here entered a very important component: the sports management firms that handled players’ image and commercials,” a senior BCCI official familiar with the workings of the system said.

“The managers would comb through profiles of social media aggregators with decent following. They would be engaged to improve a player’s social media traction,” the official explained.

Soon, fan clubs multiplied exponentially.

Algorithms rewarded outrage over nuance, abuse over analysis, and tribal loyalty over sporting appreciation.

What initially looked like harmless fan engagement slowly became weaponized propaganda.

Managers, agencies, and social media operators found that inorganic amplification worked both ways — glorifying one player and systematically tearing another down.

What nobody anticipated was how quickly this ecosystem would slip out of institutional control.

Bots became armies. Rival fan groups became digital lynch mobs. Manufactured trends became accepted public discourse.

The abuse was no longer restricted to players. Families became collateral damage.

Wives, sisters, and even children became easy targets in a culture where anonymity removed accountability and hatred became currency.

Jessica Head and Shrestha Iyer are suffering today because cricket’s wider commercial ecosystem spent years incentivizing online polarisation without caring about its eventual human cost.

The tragedy is that the same ecosystem that once celebrated “engagement metrics” is now horrified by the monster those numbers created.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Frank Lampard has been named the League Managers Association manager of the year after guiding Coventry back to the Premier League.

Lampard’s Sky Blues finished 11 points clear at the top of the Championship to clinch the title and return to the top flight for the first time since the 2000-01 season.

The former England midfielder, who has previously managed Derby, Everton and had two spells in charge at Chelsea, was presented with the Sir Alex Ferguson award by England manager Thomas Tuchel.

The award, named after the former Manchester United manager, is voted for by managers throughout the leagues and takes into account success and the resources available.

Tuchel read out a letter from Ferguson, who said Lampard’s Coventry play “great football with confidence and belief”.

“I have enjoyed watching you. Best of luck in the Premier League next season,” he added.

Brentford‘s Keith Andrews, Arsenal‘s Mikel Arteta, Aston Villa‘s Unai Emery, Bournemouth‘s Andoni Iraola, Manchester City‘s Pep Guardiola, Lincoln City’s Michael Skubala and Bromley’s Andy Woodman were also shortlisted.

Manchester City‘s Andree Jeglertz won the Women’s Super League award after leading them to the title.

Arteta, who led Arsenal to their first Premier League title in 22 years, won the Premier League award while Lampard also took the Championship equivalent.

Skubala, who won League One with Lincoln, took the award for the third tier and Woodham won the League Two award after he led Bromley to the title.

The WSL2 award was taken by Karen Hills, who led Charlton to the WSL for the first time.

Steve Bruce and Martin O’Neill were inducted into the Hall of Fame after each reaching 1,000 games as a manager.

The award for Lampard is the most significant individual honour in his coaching career.

His Derby side lost in the Championship play-off final in 2019 and he was then appointed at former club Chelsea, where he spent 13 years as a player.

He was sacked after 18 months in charge in 2021 but later returned as a caretaker.

In between, he spent less than a year in charge of Everton during which he oversaw an escape from relegation but was later sacked.

This season his Coventry side were the Championship’s highest scorers with 97 goals in 46 games. They also had the best defence.

Chris Wilder, who won the award while in charge of Sheffield United in 2019, and Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna, the 2024 winner, are other recent managers to receive the LMA’s top award while managing outside of the Premier League.

Michael Carrick is looking to add a left winger to his squad this summer but there are other areas in more urgent need of attention.

Ruben Amorim claimed back in November that you could “feel the anxiety every time Patrick [Dorgu] touched the ball”. If the former Manchester United boss tuned in to watch Dorgu’s stellar showing against Brighton on Sunday then he is the one who would have been left sweating.

Amorim pulled no punches in press conferences during his time at Old Trafford, and his own players often found themselves the target of his sharp right hooks in the Carrington media room.

His assessment of Dorgu was unnecessary, piling further pressure on a 21-year-old who was struggling to justify the £25million fee United paid to sign him in January. Six months on and Dorgu looks a completely different player.

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A move into a more advanced role has brought the best out of the former Lecce man, and on Sunday he provided a timely reminder of his qualities.

His goal tally on the south coast could, and perhaps should, have been two, yet his movement, pace and link-up play caused Brighton no end of problems as United cruised to a final day victory at a sun-drenched Amex Stadium.

While a midfield overhaul tops United’s summer to-do list, left-wing has also been earmarked as a position in need of strengthening. But with Dorgu showing no ill effects of the injury that kept him sidelined for nearly three months at the back end of the season, and Matheus Cunha proving he can do a job on the left in Dorgu’s absence, it begs the question why United would prioritise left-wing reinforcements when other areas of the squad are more in need of attention.

Deputies to Senne Lammens and Benjamin Sesko could be needed this summer, but it’s at left-back where United have more pressing concerns.

With 19 Premier League appearances in two years prior to the start of this season, few expected Luke Shaw to start all 38 of United’s league games this term, but his inclusion in the starting XI on Sunday saw him do just that. Next season, United will expect to add at least 20 games to the calendar on top of the paltry 40 they played this season, and failure to sign back-up and competition for Shaw would be a grave oversight.

Shaw has played 40 games or more in just three of his 12 seasons at Old Trafford, and so if United are to challenge on multiple fronts next term then a reliable deputy at left-back is a must.

Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui have filled in on the left at times but both are better suited to the right, while Tyrell Malacia has played his final game in a United shirt. Dorgu has shown too much promise in an advanced role to be pushed into a back four, and all other in-house options are far too inexperienced to be thrown into the deep end when needed.

Michael Carrick spoke of the experience Shaw can offer the group next season when asked about the role he will play in 2026/27, saying: “He’s at that stage now where he’s got an awful lot of experience, he’s been here for a long time, he knows the club, he knows what it feels like, he knows the ups and he’s suffered some of the more challenging times, you know, so next season I think his experience will be valuable, however many games he plays.”

The final few words of that answer felt particularly telling.

United have been linked with a number of left-backs recently, with Newcastle’s Lewis Hall and Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly both mentioned as possible targets. Neither would come cheap, and so if United do spend big on a midfield overhaul and a new left winger, it’s hard to see them being able to invest heavily in a left-back.

A rejig of the to-do list could be needed.

Active people app, Strava, has overhauled its strength training experience, allowing gym-goers to automatically log and share their lifts from their wearables.

Users can now record sets, reps and weight in a purpose-built log, making it easy to review and repeat workouts. Every logged workout now generates a visual muscle map, highlighting the muscle groups trained.

Five new strength-specific shareables give athletes more ways to celebrate their lifts and progress with friends, clubs, and the broader Strava community. The new formats are designed to translate the work happening in the gym or at home into the same kind of recognition Strava users have long received for activities recorded outdoors.

“Strength has been one of the fastest-growing sport types on Strava for some time, with more than 500 million uploads in 2025 alone, and our community has been clear about what they need from us,” said Matt Salazar, chief product officer, Strava. 

“This overhaul brings the same depth, motivation, and shareability that Strava is known for to a myriad of strength activities. Whether someone is training for a race, lifting for general fitness, or building strength as their primary activity, they now have tools that meet them where they actually are and this is only the beginning.”

Ed Baker, chief product officer at Whoop, says this integration gives people more context to their workout programmes: “By integrating Whoop insights and broader health and performance signals into Strava, we are helping our members connect strength, endurance and recovery so they can see the full picture of their performance more clearly than ever.”

The initial launch partners are 24 Hour Fitness, Amazfit, Caliber, Coros, Fitbod, Garmin, Hevy, iFIT Personal Trainer, Jefit, Liftoff, Motra, Remaker, Runna and Whoop.

Strava has 195 million users in more than 185 countries.