PHOENIX — Suns guard Damion Lee was in a bit of a rush as he stood near his locker and prepared to face the Celtics Wednesday night. He needed his socks and leg warmers. He needed to attend the pregame chapel service. He needed a few more warm-up shots.
Then he heard that a visitor wanted to talk to him about Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, and everything stood still. He looked up at the clock that showed tipoff was 62 minutes away.
“I could talk about Joe for the next 62 minutes, bro,” Lee said. “It’s like that.”
Lee went undrafted out of Louisville in 2016, and after being cut from the Celtics during training camp he was assigned to the team’s G League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws. That same year, Mazzulla left his job as an assistant at Division 2 Fairmont State to work as an assistant in Maine.
They were both in the early stages of figuring out their careers, facing the hard reality that for most players and coaches at that level, the G League is the ceiling.
Mazzulla was assigned to work with Lee, and the two formed an instant bond. They lived in the same extended-stay hotel in Portland, making it easier for Mazzulla to convince Lee to join him for workouts or film sessions at all hours.
“Joe was very attentive, and we did everything together,” Lee said. “Early-morning work, post-practice, late-night, everything. We did so many drills. I think we hit it off so well because I love being in the gym and learning new things, and he had this innovative style.”
The two would get breakfast sandwiches together at a local bakery most mornings and go out to dinner after most games. Lee was also learning to cook, so he’d try new recipes on Mazzulla in their hotel and they’d talk for hours about everything from faith to footwork.
“I’m just grateful to him for trusting me,” Mazzulla said. “He listened and we worked together and were just able to build a great relationship. For me, it really was an introduction into how you cultivate great relationships at this level, and how you take care of them and develop them.”
Lee averaged 17.8 points and 6.3 rebounds over his first 16 games with the Red Claws, and there were discussions about calling him up to the Celtics. But on Dec. 23 he tore his ACL for the second time in his career and was lost for the season. About three weeks later, he was waived.
Even though it was just an unlucky injury, Lee said Mazzulla felt he had let him down. Mazzulla became even more focused on helping Lee succeed.
“I think he’s someone that’s just special,” Lee said. “He’s an unbelievable people person, and the way he can relate to anyone, he just has that humble, man of God mind-set. He’s always been that support and that light for me.”
Now, of course, both Lee and Mazzulla have made it.
Lee signed with the Hawks late in the 2017-18 season before parlaying a two-way deal with the Warriors a year later into a regular NBA contract. He averaged 7.4 points and 3.2 rebounds for Golden State last season, which ended with an NBA championship. Last summer, he signed a one-year deal with the Suns.
Mazzulla, meanwhile, has guided the Celtics to a 21-5 start after taking over for suspended coach Ime Udoka. Both Lee and Mazzulla are a long way from Portland.
“To see the success he’s having now, it was really just a matter of time,” Lee said. “Selfishly, I’m hoping they can take that interim tag off. But really he’s going to be able to coach in the NBA as long as he wants.”
Even though Lee and Mazzulla are thousands of miles apart, Mazzulla watches Suns clips when he can, and he and Lee are still in contact almost every day.
“We talk about how we’re doing,” Mazzulla said. “And we talk about how it relates to the things we learned from each other when we were together, and how we apply them now.”
Most often, though, the conversations have nothing to do with basketball. Lee met Mazzulla’s 6-year-old son, Manny, when he was an infant. Mazzulla met Lee’s wife, Sydel — Stephen Curry’s younger sister — when she and Lee were dating.
(Lee said Mazzulla brought moonshine to their wedding for him and Sydel’s father, former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry, to taste.)
As the Celtics’ bus idled outside following the team’s 125-98 romp over the Suns on Wednesday night, Mazzulla headed down an arena hallway to spend a little more time with his friend before it was time to go.
“You can tell he genuinely cares for who I am,” Lee said. “Not me the basketball player, but me, my wife, my son, my mom. He genuinely cares.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.