And it’s always a sense of swagger for players who come to All-Star Weekend with their teams at the top of the standings or who have exceeded expectations. Their hard work has resulted in victories. Brown came to Los Angeles with all A’s in his midterm report card and couldn’t wait to talk about the school year.

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On a personal level, Brown has made a concerted effort to bond with fans with his live streaming, sometimes talking with his buddies about league issues, cultural topics or even his own shortcomings. There has been a perception that Brown is sometimes too serious, smiles aren’t plentiful enough, but he has changed that just as he erased those notions about being a No. 1 option.

“To be honest, it’s been fun,” he said. “Like this year I started streaming (online) this season on top of trying to lead this team from being a gap year into where we’re at now. It’s been fun, to be honest, to get to introduce y’all to me, so y’all get to see, like, what I do, how I spend my time, the topics I want to talk about. It’s been fun. I feel like I built some, some dope followers, adult fan base, that get to see the game from a first person perspective.”

On the floor, Brown tied for third in the NBA at 29.3 points per game with fellow Atlanta native Anthony Edwards. And the Celtics are on a 53-win pace when most sportsbooks predicted no more than 42 wins. The effort has been collective with Joe Mazzulla doing perhaps his best coaching job in his four Boston seasons while he has thrown a plethora of players into new roles, where they have flourished.

“On top of it being like a great year, or historic one for me personally, but also for our team, our guys, the amount of players that we lost, and to see them finding their ground, their footing, and playing well as a leader, I can’t tell you how much that means to me to see those guys kind of started to flourish on their own,” Brown said. “Before when the season started, there was uncertainty. It’s great. I’m proud. I don’t know what to tell you. I’m extremely proud of our group to where we’re at right now. Second in the east versus, like, how many players that and everything that was being said the gap year, and for us to be sitting here at All-Star break and having our guys feeling like we can even be better, I’m proud, bro. So it’s been great. It’s been fun.”

One of the issues hovering over All-Star Weekend is the status of Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum, who is practicing 5-on-5 with the G-League Celtics and whose return this season appears imminent. Adding to the speculation was NBC adding the March 1 home game against the Philadelphia 76ers. Meanwhile, NBC Sports executive producer said Thursday that the All-Star Game coverage will include a story on Tatum.

Coincidentally, the highlight of All-Star Saturday was Damian Lillard winning the 3-point contest despite missing all of this season recovering from a torn Achilles, the same injury as Tatum. Lillard revealed he’s been taking hundreds of shots over the past few months. Lillard sustained his injury 15 days prior to Tatum.

Brown was asked about whether Tatum will have any resistance in returning to a roster that’s played together all season. And again, his answer was absolutely not.

“I didn’t get to watch that (G-League workout), but I’ve seen some previous to that, and he looked good, to be honest, he looks like he’s progressing along,” Brown said of Tatum. “He’s checking off all the right boxes. Obviously, he needs to take his time to mentally, spiritually, emotionally, make sure everything you feel right before you make any decisions. But in terms of what I’ve seen, he looks pretty damn good making that work.”

He appeared annoyed by the persisting questions about potential chemistry obstacles with Tatum.

“I mean, those conversations have been from since we got drafted, pretty much,” he said. “So there’s in any human relationship, in any type of team, there’s always gonna be some stuff that you have to work on and improve and work through. But in terms of winning, me and him both have done it at a high level for a very long time. So I’m looking forward to that.”

Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.