Celtics Champion Sounds Off on Derrick White’s Future

For Boston Celtics fans, this isn’t just the summer after a playoff heartbreak. It’s the start of a different kind of waiting game. Jayson Tatum’s recovery now hangs over everything, Jaylen Brown is battling his way back from knee surgery, and every trade rumor that leaks out seems to threaten the future just a little more.

And yet, from inside the noise, one voice cuts through with clarity.

“There’s no way in hell Derrick White is not on this team next year, the next five years. We just know. Come on.”

That’s Brian Scalabrine on the latest NBC Sports Boston Off C’Season podcast—an emphatic message to the Celtics’ front office that echoes what many fans already feel.

It’s a message both defiant and obvious. If Tatum is the face, and Brown is the heart, Derrick White has quietly become the connective tissue the Celtics can’t afford to lose.

Derrick White Is a True Celtic

White’s transformation is impossible to ignore. Once a role player known mostly for defense, he’s now the franchise’s single-season three-point king. He shot 38% from deep on high volume last season while leading the team in clutch-time efficiency.

Defensively, he remains one of the most disruptive shot-blocking guards in the league—ranking in the 96th percentile as a screen navigator despite missing out on All-Defensive honors this year. The eye test still holds.

But what truly separates White? Availability. As injuries ripped through Boston’s rotation, White suited up, game after game, never missing a beat. Never making excuses. Never landing on the injury report while the season crumbled around him. He became, in the most literal sense, the last man standing.

Shams: “Celtics Prefer Not to Trade Them”

The storm clouds of Boston’s roster uncertainty are here—luxury tax landmines, and trade rumors swirling around everyone not named Jayson Tatum. As rivals circle, Shams Charania said it plain on The Pat McAfee Show:

“Now, are teams making big offers and calling about Jaylen Brown and Derrick White? 100 percent. The Celtics prefer not to trade ’em, from my understanding.”

It’s the kind of league-wide demand that money can’t solve. The kind of offer no trade machine can replicate.

What’s Next for Derrick White and the Celtics?

With a summer of volatility ahead, Scalabrine’s words feel less like a plea and more like a map. For Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla, the blueprint should be clear: Derrick White isn’t just a piece of the present—he’s the bridge to whatever comes next.

Sometimes, as the Celtics have learned, the best building blocks are the ones that keep showing up. Even when the rest of the foundation shifts beneath your feet.