From 1950 to 2015, naming captains had been a regular part of Celtics franchise history, though one hasn’t officially been announced since. Paul Pierce last prominently filled that role over a decade ago, and Rajon Rondo briefly succeeded him before he was traded. After that, steered the organization away from captains in an effort to empower everyone. Head coach began the 2023-24 championship season explaining that naming a captain would make the Celtics overly reliant on one player. What if he doesn’t show up? It would have been a big deal—and worthy of a ceremonious announcement—if had joined that lineage and restarted the tradition.
But to be clear, Boston never officially named Brown a captain, which he later clarified at 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend. It’s understood, he said, that he assumes that role because he’s been on the team the longest. “Even though we don’t necessarily have it written down, the team moves to the things that me and Jayson [Tatum] do,” Brown said. “Even though we have a lot of great players, I feel like my team relies on me to be the leader, the vocal leader. I would say I’ve taken that role and defensively, being the head of the snake, taking on those matchups. My team feeds off that. It’s kind of understood, I guess.”
Brown later identified Smart leaving in 2023 as the turning point in him embracing a leadership role. Brown now views his and Tatum’s past approaches as too quiet. Someone needs to talk, Brown learned after multiple playoff runs with his costar, and since that style didn’t come naturally to either star, Brown made a conscious choice to embrace it. “Jayson’s more of a lead-by-example [type], he doesn’t really talk a lot,” Brown said. “He’s opened his mouth a lot more than he has in the past, but Jayson, I wouldn’t say, is extremely vocal, and I haven’t been either, but that’s something I think I’m more comfortable with. I speak a lot on different platforms, so I’ve been able to carry that more a little bit, trying to just keep our morale, speaking life into everybody, talking to everybody on the bench, keeping that good feng shui.” – via The Ringer

Insomma Brown capitano in pectore.