David Jess MacLeay (born October 6, 1994) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA).

High school career

MacLeay grew up in San Antonio and attended Ronald Reagan High School. At Reagan, MacLeay lettered three times each in basketball and track and field. On the basketball team, MacLeay was team captain and earned all-state and all-region honors while on the team. As a senior, MacLeay averaged 16 points and 11 rebounds per game for Reagan High School. MacLeay was in the 2013 basketball recruiting class and was ranked as a 2-star recruit by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. According to both 247Sports and ESPN, MacLeay was only offered by Bucknell and he committed to play for Bucknell in September 2012.

College career

MacLeay played for Bucknell for four seasons, from 2013 to 2017. In his freshman year, MacLeay appeared in 16 games off the bench for the Bison, averaging 1.5 points per game. In his sophomore year at Bucknell, MacLeay averaged 3.6 points and appeared in 30 games for Bucknell. He set a career-high in scoring with 12 points in a win against Case Western Reserve. In a loss against Villanova, MacLeay recorded a career-high in rebounds with 11. His 11 rebounds against Villanova was the 4th-highest in Bucknell school history against a ranked opponent at the time. During his sophomore year, the Bison were

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

regular season champions. In MacLeay's junior year at Bucknell he appeared in 31 games and averaged a career-high 5.2 points per game. He recorded a new career-high in scoring with 15 points in a win over Lafayette. MacLeay's junior year was the best of his collegiate career, excelling in a back-up role for Bucknell shooting 63.3% from the field and averaging 3.6 rebounds per game, both also career-highs. As a junior, MacLeay's Bison were once again Patriot League regular season champions but did not qualify for the NCAA tournament. In his senior season at Bucknell, MacLeay played in a career-high 33 games. Team success-wise it was the most successful season of MacLeay's collegiate career, with the Bison winning the 2017 Patriot League tournament and earning a spot in the 2017 NCAA tournament. In the 2017 NCAA tournament, Bucknell was the #13 seed and lost to

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

in the first round, which would be MacLeay's final collegiate game. During the season he also made his lone career start in the last game of the regular season against

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Coaching career

MacLeay began his coaching career with the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

, being employed with the 76ers for four and a half years and serving as Philadelphia's video coordinator for three years. He left the Sixers in 2021 to join the

. In July 2021, it was reported that the Celtics were hiring MacLeay as a player enhancement coach under head coach

Ime Udoka Ime Sunday Udoka ( ; born August 9, 1977) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA), currently suspended by the team for the 2 ...

. He was promoted to assistant coach for the Celtics in July 2022. After Udoka left the Celtics, MacLeay was retained as a member of new head coach

Joe Mazzulla Joseph Mazzulla (born June 30, 1988) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for West Virginia University. High school ...

’s coaching staff. With the Celtics, MacLeay has worked with big men, such as center

Kristaps Porzingis Kristaps is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the German name Christoph and may refer to: *Kristaps Blanks (born 1986), Latvian football striker *Kristaps Dārgais (born 1990), Latvian basketball player *Kristaps Grebis (born 19 ...

, throughout his time as a player enhancement coach and assistant coach with Boston. MacLeay worked on the Celtics coaching staff alongside fellow assistant Charles Lee, who coached him at Bucknell and is a Bucknell alum himself. MacLeay became an NBA champion when the Celtics defeated the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

in 5 games in the

2024 NBA Finals The 2024 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2023–24 NBA season, 2023–24 season and conclusion to 2024 NBA playoffs, the season's playoffs. The best-of-seven playoffs was played between the ...

. In July 2024, MacLeay was the head coach for the Celtics summer league team at the

2024 NBA Summer League The 2024 NBA Summer League (branded as '' NBA 2K25'' Summer League 2024 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vega ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Personal life

Born October 6, 1994, in San Antonio, MacLeay is the son of Glenn and Kelle MacLeay. He has a younger sister Bethany. Attended Bucknell University where he graduated with a degree majoring in markets, innovation, and design.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacLeay, D. J. 1994 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Texas Basketball players from San Antonio Boston Celtics assistant coaches Bucknell Bison men's basketball players