When asked about public slights against his Celtics players, Joe Mazzulla’s message has been consistent:

Criticism, Mazzulla believes, is both a compliment and a fact of life for star athletes. And those players, the head coach stresses, shouldn’t concern themselves with the opinions of anyone outside of their coaches, teammates, family and friends.

Mazzulla preached those same points Thursday and Friday after Brandon Jennings, a former NBA journeyman, made headlines for calling Jayson Tatum “the softest superstar in Celtics history.” But that jab also prompted him to deliver a presentation to his players.

“One thing that I did do for them is I gave them a timeline of a certain player in the past’s career who is great,” Mazzulla explained before Friday night’s 114-97 loss to the Sacramento Kings at TD Garden. “I gave them a timeline of, like, here’s what was being said about him in the beginning, here’s what was being said about him in the middle, here’s what was being said about him in the end.

“And it was comical, the bouncing back and forth of the opinions. But you kind of just share the perspective, because every player has gone through something. If you want to be great, you’re going to go through that. So I look at it as maintaining a level of perspective on that is the most important thing.”

Asked if he would reveal the identity of that player, Mazzulla declined.

“But it’s hysterical,” he added, “to watch what people said about him at different timelines of his career. If they could be held accountable for those (takes), that’d be great.”

The timeline underscored what Tatum already knew: No player is safe from scrutiny, especially in today’s hot take-fueled media landscape.

“Yeah, I mean, I guess it helps seeing it to put things into perspective,” Tatum said postgame. “It’s (not) something that I didn’t already know. At the end of it, you can look at some of the ridiculous takes people on TV have said about some of the best players to play this game that didn’t necessarily age well. When you see some of the comments that they made about certain guys and how their careers turned out, you’ve just got to laugh. It’s just part of the journey.”

Tatum rarely addresses criticism of his game unless asked about it, but he responded to Jennings’ slight on social media, posting a series of photos and highlight clips on his Instagram with the caption: “SoFtesT SuPeRstar in CeLtiC HiStoRy.”

“I wasn’t mad,” Tatum replied when asked about the post. “I just had some time yesterday.”

Tatum, whom Mazzulla called “one of the best Celtics of all time” in a radio interview this week, said he’s used to being the target of critics. Skepticism about his place among the NBA’s elite players has persisted even after he helped lead the Celtics to an NBA title last season.

“Surprised? No,” Tatum said. “I think it comes with being one of the best players in the league. And the more you accomplish, the more it gives people an opportunity to nitpick at things. If I wasn’t who I was or had a certain status, people would probably not talk about me as much. But I’m not the first superstar in league history to deal with this. It comes with it.”