Boston Celtics guard Derrick White picked up the slack in a Game 5 win after they lost Jayson Tatum to a season-ending Achilles injury in Game 4.
White exploded for a series-best 34 points. However, he failed to replicate that in Game 6. The 30-year-old guard played his worst game of the series when the Celtics needed him most. He finished with only eight points on 3-for-11 shooting across 30 minutes in the crushing 119-81 loss to the New York Knicks that ended the Celtics’ back-to-back championship bid.
After the numbing defeat, White sent a cryptic message, further fanning the flames of the rumors of a major shakeup in Boston in the offseason.
“It sucks, we’re never getting this season back,” White told reporters. “We’re never going to have the exact same team again.”
Celtics to Make ‘Significant Changes’ on Expensive Roster
Jay King of The Athletic reported in the aftermath of the Celtics’ second-round exit that the team is mulling “significant changes” to the roster amid the rising cost of keeping their veteran core intact.
“Because of a payroll that would reach about $500 million if the Celtics simply hold onto their current roster, the front office was already thinking about significant offseason changes before Tatum’s injury, according to team sources,” King wrote.
The Athletic report only confirmed what everyone has been suspecting, which ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on May 1.
“The rest of the league is bracing for some level of change to come to the Celtics roster this offseason,” Charania said on “The Pat McAfee Show” at the time. “Sources have been telling me for weeks now that the Celtics will be exploring trade options in the offseason.
“This iteration just is not going to be sustainable for this team and no one around the organization – from players to staffers – would be surprised if there are changes coming to this roster. Because when you think about the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, there’s restrictions that come with trades, there’s restrictions that come with freezing of draft picks. That’s all stuff that they’re dealing with right now.”
Same Difficult Challenge Next Season
While there is uncertainty in Boston, White is expected to remain, especially with Tatum projected to miss most, if not all of next season.
“Obviously you win a championship and got that target on your back from day one,” White said. “And obviously, there’s ups and downs through every season and this part sucks and we just weren’t able to complete the goal that we we set out to get.”
It will be doubly harder to contend without Tatum.
“Next year is going to be the same difficult challenge of winning a championship,” White said. “So, obviously we didn’t go back to back but it’s hard to win in this league and you just got to learn and grow.”
White was one of the few bright spots of the Celtics’ lost season. The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 20.2 points against the Knicks. He finished the playoffs as Boston’s third-best scorer, averaging 18.18 points, behind Tatum (28.1 points) and Jaylen Brown (22.1).
White’s four-year, $125 million extension kicks in next season that will pay him a starting salary of $28 million. If he remains in Boston, White will have the burden of carrying more offensive load without Tatum. That’s on top of his defensive assignment as one of their top on-ball defenders.
