The Boston Celtics are all about the serious business of trying to win the NBA Championship, a title that would be the 18th in team history. They will have home court advantage when they tip off against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 at the TD Garden Thursday night.

The matchup features superstars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown of the Celtics going up against Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving of the Mavericks. There will certainly be many more matchups and nuances that are certain to play a role in the outcome of the series, but the superstars on both teams will command much of the media attention.

Winning the title is clearly the top priority of the Celtics organization with the championship series on the horizon. But it is not the only business the Celtics have to consider.

Once the series is concluded, the Celtics will start preparing for the 2024-25 season. The likelihood is that they will be adding a new assistant coach to work with head coach Joe Mazzulla. That's because Celtics assistant Charles Lee will be leaving the team to become the head coach of the Charlotte Hornets.

Jeff Van Gundy likely to become Celtics assistant coach

ESPN announcer Jeff Van Gundy sits courtside befopre the game between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden.
Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Jeff Van Gundy is well known to basketball fans as a top analyst on ESPN/ABC who has regularly worked the championship series. However, after the Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat in last year's championship series, the network decided not to bring back Jeff Van Gundy to its top analyst seat.

He has been quite active during the year, working as a consultant for the Celtics throughout the year. Prior to taking that position, he turned down a similar position with Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks.

Since Lee will be leaving the team once the NBA Finals has reached its conclusion, there is serious talk that Van Gundy will move to the Celtics bench as Mazzulla's assistant coach. Those reports emanated from NBA insider Marc Stein.

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During his broadcasting career, Van Gundy was seated next to play by play man Mike Breen. This season, Breen has worked with Doris Burke and JJ Redick. That trio will be in the booth for the NBA Finals.

Reddick may leave ABC after the series as he is a clear-cult favorite to become the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Celtics have been on a roll during the postseason

The Celtics have beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Miami Heat and the Indiana Pacers to earn their way into the championship series.

They have largely been untested, as they defeated the Cavaliers in 5 games, the Heat in 5 games and the Pacers in 4 games. In addition to their 12-2 postseason record, the Celtics also had the best record in the NBA during the regular season.

As a result, the Celtics are minus-225 favorites to win the series, per FanDuel. The Mavericks are plus-180 underdogs. The Celtics are minus-6.5 favorites to win Game 1 of the series.