The Celtics made one major change to their starting five for next season after electing to trade away Jaylen Brown this summer. That move drew the attention of several teams around the league that were curious to see if the Celtics were looking to do a bigger shakeup with their roster. One player whom several teams inquired about is veteran guard Derrick White but the team pushed aside all inquiries, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com.
“The guy you’re going to go for, that everyone had their eye on was Derrick White because of the contract and the down year and maybe you can lowball a bit,” a Western Conference executive told Deveney. “But the Celtics were not entertaining anything like that. It’s not just hanging up the phone, everyone listens. But it is just not where they were at. He is a very popular guy on that team and in that front office, they were not going to move him.”
White, 32, came off his toughest season in Boston after shooting a career-low 39.4 percent from the field while taking on a bigger offensive role in Jayson Tatum’s absence. Despite those shooting struggles, he still had one of the best net ratings on Boston’s roster and made an All-Defensive First Team for the first time in his career.
White spoke this summer about his motivations to bounce back this year offensively in the wake of the Brown trade.
“I just wanted to attack the summer and get better,” White said in Las Vegas at Summer League. “I don’t think I played that great last year. I think that’s what I’ve been focusing on this whole summer. So that hasn’t really changed with the trade.”
He still remains under contract with Boston for the next three seasons, including a player option for the 2028-29 campaign. Boston acquired White from the Spurs at the 2022 trade deadline. The team still owes the Spurs a 2028 first-round pick swap from that deal.
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