The team has honored deceased members of the Celtics family with a commemorative black band on the left shoulder strap of the jersey . It has been featured nine times in the history of the franchise : Walter Brown ( 1964 – 65 ) , Bob Schmertz ( 1975 – 76 ) , Joan Cohen ( 1989 – 90 ) , Johnny Most and Reggie Lewis ( 1993 – 94 ) , Dorothy Auerbach ( 2000 – 01 ) , Dennis Johnson ( 2006 – 07 ) , Jim Loscutoff ( 2015 – 16 ) , Jo Jo White ( 2017 – 18 ) and John Havlicek ( 2018 – 19 ) . The Celtics also wore a black band for reasons not related to the franchise , such as the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 , and the death of Isaiah Thomas ' younger sister during the 2017 NBA Playoffs
Boston Marathon bombing
Boston Marathon bombing
Boston Celtics