On June 17, 2024, I watched the Boston Celtics win their record-setting eighteenth NBA title at the TD Garden before a euphoric, sold-out crowd. As a lifetime basketball player, coach, and fan, this was a joyous experience for me. Under any circumstances I would have been deeply committed to the Celtics winning, but this season and this team made it even more rewarding.
As a teenager I had been to the old Boston Garden to watch Larry Bird’s Celtics compete for playoff titles. I was there the night a young Michael Jordan scored 63 points in a loss. Two decades later I cheered with my teenage daughters as Paul Pierce and company downed Kobe Bryant’s Lakers for banner #17. As unforgettable as those teams and memories are for me, this championship feels like my favorite.
Why? Shared leadership. That’s why.
The modern NBA traditionally features solo superstars, big egos, and “give me the ball” leaders. But this Celtics team broke that mold at every level of the organization, from the general manager Brad Stevens, to the head coach Joe Mazzulla, to its two best players, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and the rest of the amazing cast, including seven-foot-two Latvian Kristaps Porzingis, tough-as-nails competitor Jrue Holiday, eighteen-year veteran Al Horford, and smooth point guard Derrick White.
Six stars in their own right set aside their need to stand out so that everyone could stand out. Six stars who shared the spotlight and stayed focused on the process they believed in, amid a mountain of spotlights and media meddling. In a league filled with incredible individual performers, acclaimed for their personal statistics, the Celtics rewrote the NBA’s leadership book on winning. And they didn’t just win, they dominated. Every single one of them.
There was no better example of this culture of Celtics shared leadership than Jayson Tatum. Tatum had long been proclaimed the “best” player and the “get him the ball” leader of the Celtics team. Yet across the entire season, including their 16–3 playoff run to the title, Tatum put the team first. He shared the ball, shared the stage, and shared the fame. When his running mate, Jaylen Brown, was named finals MVP, Jayson celebrated, honored, and credited him. Jayson Tatum decided that shared leadership was the surest path to the highest level of team success. And it worked. They won!
At the beginning of that final championship game, just before the opening tip, #9 Derrick White did something that might seem at odds with shared leadership and which very few people likely noticed. He extended both hands in the air and pointed his thumbs down over his shoulders to where the name “White” was emblazoned on the back of his jersey. I saw him do it and instantly got it. He was honoring himself, showing love and faith in his own ability and courage. This small act was symbolically critical to a successful shared leadership culture. As Rudyard Kipling wrote long ago, “The strength of the pack is the wolf.” When every wolf is strong, the pack is strong.
Healthy individuals, filled with self-love, self-worth, and personal faith are critical ingredients in the playbook of shared leadership. Only when I honor my own worth so deeply that it cannot be shaken by outsiders can I then set aside ego and work for the good of the whole. Knowing your worth at a soul’s level is fundamental to elevating others. The Celtics that brought home banner #18 embodied this truth. They knew their worth and honored their unique voices. This is what allowed each of them to serve the whole and share the spotlight.
Shared leadership, Celtics style, was on full display all year, and that’s why this is my favorite championship.
