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What was the first big moment when you realized, “Boy, finally, I’m in the NBA. This is actually happening. It’s real”? Derrick White: Yeah, I mean, the first time I actually had some real minutes. I check in against OKC, and I go to the free-throw line, and I got Carmelo Anthony and Paul George. And I’m from Colorado, and so Carmelo Anthony was basically my whole childhood. So I’m kind of like, “This is amazing that I’m here next to you. I can’t believe it.” So that was kind of my—my eyes are wide open the whole time. I probably turned it over the next play.
This article is titled The Truth Behind the Success: Inside the Celtics’ Maniacal Film Study, Starting With a One-of-a-Kind Session. Tell me more about what that’s like. I think that’s maybe more rare than what you’re used to in the organizations you’ve played for. It came to me as a surprise that you guys do that. Derrick White: No, I’ve never done it before. This is the first time. Usually, the coaches kind of tell you who’s starting and tell you who you’re guarding. Joe was like, “Alright, you guys are going to tell me who’s going to start and what the matchups are.” So everybody was kind of quiet for a second, like, “What do you mean?” He was like, “Yeah, talk amongst yourselves. Who should start? What should the matchups be? What are we thinking? How is this going to go throughout the game? How can we change different things?” I think that’s the dope part about Joe—how much he trusts us. He wants us to think differently.
MrBuckBuck: Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla implies Derrick White doesn't believe that the moon landing happened. Joe Mazzulla protecting Derrick White there lol, as it sounds D-White said: "No." Via: @ZoandBertrand
Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla implies Derrick White doesn't believe that the moon landing happened
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) March 12, 2026
Joe Mazzulla protecting Derrick White there lol, as it sounds D-White said: "No."
Via: @ZoandBertrand pic.twitter.com/95B89c1VTP
Boston Celtics: Injury Report for tomorrow vs. WAS: Baylor Scheierman - Right Ankle Sprain - PROBABLE Nikola Vucevic - Right Ring Finger Fracture - OUT Derrick White - Right Knee Contusion - PROBABLE
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Speaking of that contribution, you just won a new award, the Defensive Player of the Month. What does that mean to you? Do you think you have a chance at Defensive Player of the Year? Derrick White: I didn't know it was an award, honestly, until I won it. I really think I got it because of how good we've been guarding as a team. I feel like it's a Boston Celtics team award. But I guess I'll keep it at my house. I don't get anything for it, but I'll keep the recognition, I guess. I really think that's what that was. For Defensive Player of the Year, I don't think I have a chance.
Noa Dalzell: Celtics could be without several key players tomorrow vs Thunder Jayson Tatum is QUESTIONABLE with "right Achilles repair reconditioning" Derrick White is QUESTIONABLE with a right knee contusion Nikola Vucevic is OUT Payton Pritchard is PROBABLE (neck spasm)
There have been many debates from media personalities on whether Boston should break apart the duo, but the franchise has stayed put on keeping them together. So far, Tatum and Brown have kept the Celtics in serious contention. White agrees with that sentiment during his March 8 appearance on the White Noise Podcast. “I think that’s just like the media just trying to start something. Now it’s like who’s team is it, who’s 1A? I think they do a good job of like not listening to it. I think obviously there’s times where it’s annoying for them, but for me, it doesn’t both me none. I don’t care. As long as we win, like I don’t care who 1A and 1B is.,” White said at the 1:22 mark.
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Atkinson then furthered his point, making a claim that produced something of a record scratch in the press room. “Derrick White is a top-five player in this league,” Atkinson said. “I know no one says that in the standard media, but analytically, if you look at all the advanced stuff, he’s a top-five player in the league. Superstar.” On ESPN’s “Inside the NBA” pregame show, Charles Barkley had a quick response. “The reason nobody says that, Kenny,” Barkley said, “is because it’s not true.”
According to Mazzulla, NBA coaches and players have access to stats that aren’t readily available to the ordinary fan or even the media, and White’s ranking in those listings was the basis for his statement. Although Joe didn’t say outright that his starting guard is indeed a Top 5 player in the league, Mazzulla explained what makes him more valuable than a lot of his peers. “At the end of the day, you guys don’t have a ton of access to the advanced analytics, so I think that’s part of it,” said Mazzulla. “The second piece is that type of player is just not commercialized. But at the end of the day, do you watch a connector? I think one of the hardest things to do in the NBA is learn how to have complete confidence and also be a connector, make other people around you better, and I think he does both of them.”
Gilbert Arenas: Manu Ginobili, did he actually fit the Spurs program right or was Pop that brilliant to understand what he had and just let him play? And these guys are fit around your style because, you know, we're all smart enough to do it because Ginobili from Argentina, he is like the number one option. So, his style fits how he played: ISO player, let's get it, pick and roll, I'm going downhill. There was no Tim Duncan he passed the ball to. There was none of that. Think about his style of play. Flashy, up and down, speed, energetic, electric. That was his style of basketball. That wasn't the Spurs style of basketball. Those shooting guards and three men, you sit your ass in the corner, you pump, fake, one, dribble shot, right? Pass and swing shot. Ginobili was a wild card, but they recognized it. Let him do him. And you have to be a smart coach to understand when you have a guy like that on your team to utilize him. And then you get your Kawhi Leonard. I mean Kawhi was the Spurs player, right? That's your typical Spurs player. Derrick White, that's the Spurs motto, right? But sometimes, hey, we need a little bit of different here.
Gary Washburn: On a surreal night at TD Garden, Jayson Tatum returns to scored 15 points, with 12 rebounds and 7 assists in 27 minutes and the #Celtics beat the #Mavericks 120-100. Jaylen Brown 24, Derrick White 20, Payton Pritchard 18, Neemias Queta 16, Luka Garza 10; Klay Thompson 19, Cooper Flagg 16 (7 for 23 FG), Naji Marshall 13, Max Christie 12, Brandon Williams 11.
