By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
After coming through Real Madrid‘s youth system and playing for the first team, Hugo González made the move to the NBA last summer, joining the Boston Celtics.
The talented Spaniard is preparing for his first NBA season, and Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla wanted to clear the air about their communication, following reports suggesting he’s having trouble with the language barrier.
“Who reported that he was struggling with the language barrier? He’s not. He speaks multiple languages. Actually, people should be speaking to him in his native language — anyone from the media who speaks Spanish should talk to him in Spanish,” Mazzulla said. “I didn’t like that headline because he doesn’t have any issue understanding. It’s important for us to meet people where they are and speak their language. I was pretty pissed about that.”
HUG🚫🚫🚫 pic.twitter.com/3fIv5bkwJG
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) October 9, 2025
He continued, explaining that he makes an effort to communicate with González in Spanish:
“At this point, I only yell at him in Spanish — but we also have conversations. He can speak both languages and does a great job understanding what’s going on out there. Right now, we argue in Spanish, but we’ll get to the point where we’ll do other stuff too.”
Overall, Mazzulla seems very satisfied with González’s progress.
“The kid just wants to win and get better. He’s been well coached, comes from a good system, does everything I ask of him, and keeps improving,” Mazzulla concluded.