Derrick White’s mom goes behind-the-scenes on son’s rise to Celtics stardom: “The world kind of shot us down.”

When Derrick White was a high schooler in Colorado, everyone called him Baby Face.

“Because he had this baby face,” White’s mother, Colleen, told CelticsBlog in an interview last month. “People would say — what are you, 12? He didn’t find it funny, of course, at the time.”

White was infamously cut from the middle school basketball team in 8th grade.

He was 5’6 when he began his high school career.

And, even when he grew a few inches and put together a dominant basketball career at Legend High School, it was crickets when it came to attracting college basketball offers.

“If we thought he was a great player, it seems like the world kind of shot us down because we didn’t get any interest from colleges,” Colleen said.

It’s been more than a decade since that time, but Colleen still sounds perplexed as to why colleges couldn’t see the vision.

But, the White family didn’t take no for an answer. Derrick’s dad, Richard White, was relentless, sending dozens of emails to college coaches in hopes that something would materialize.

Eventually, the scrappy point guard got the opportunity to enroll at the University of Colorado — Colorado Springs, a Division II culinary school. By the time his college career began, he had sprouted to the height of a typical NBA guard, thanks to a massive summer growth spurt that succeeded high school graduation.

Photo By Karl Gehring/The Denver Post via Getty Images

“Most of the recruiters have in their mind what they [high school prospects] should look like,” Colleen said. “They don’t really account for the fact that they could grow some more.”

Sure enough, Derrick grew.

The rest was history.

NBA Draft night through Colleen White’s eyes

Fast forward five years, to June 22, 2017. By the time the NBA Draft came around, White had completed an outstanding career at the University of Colorado, his middle school struggles and years of being overlooked now in the rearview mirror.

White measured 6’4 on draft night, and had showcased his two-versatility in the PAC-12 Conference, averaging 18.2 points, 4.4 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.2 steals his senior year.

And, Colleen said her son’s confidence burgeoned after a successful NBA combine.

Still, she recalls her immense anxiety on draft night.

“You’re so afraid, as a mother, of him being crushed,” Colleen said. “He wanted it more than anything. And, I could see him and his confidence building. He did well at the combine and all the things he needed to do well at. As a mom, of course, you want that for him more than anything, but at the same time, you’re so worried that he’s going to get crushed.”

Derrick wasn’t invited to the NBA Draft in New York, so his family gathered at a friend’s house in Colorado instead. To reduce the pressure on the night’s outcome, the White family shied away from calling the gathering a draft party.

“We called it a graduation party,” Colleen said. “But everybody knew it was hopefully a draft party.”

“In the back of your mind, it’s always ‘Oh, my God, what if this doesn’t happen? How’s he going to deal with that devastation?”

The White family didn’t have to wait too long; Derrick was drafted 27th overall by the Spurs.

“His phone finally does go off, and it was his agent calling, of course, to tell him that he was going to be drafted,” Colleen said. “He was trying to play it cool and be like, ‘Oh, it’s just the wrong number.’ But he couldn’t hold it in.”

A trade from the Spurs to the Celtics changed everything

NBA Draft Night was one indisputably pivotal moment in Derrick’s ascent to NBA stardom.

The other?

February 10, 2022: the day he was traded to the Celtics.

That midseason trade came as a complete surprise to the White family, who knew Derrick loved life in San Antonio despite the precarious position the franchise was in.

“Richard even asked [Derrick’s] agent, ‘You hearing any rumblings or anything?’” Coleen said. “He was like, ‘Yeah, no, nothing. Haven’t heard a thing.’ It totally caught us off guard.”

Derrick was admittedly disappointed when Spurs coach Gregg Popovich came to his hotel room to tell him the news.

Photos by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images

The White parents, meanwhile, had conflicting initial reactions.

“My husband was ecstatic,” she said. “He was a Boston Celtics fan and grew up there. He knew that they were a much better team than San Antonio and on a much different trajectory. He was jumping up and down. Oh, he was so excited.”

But Colleen immediately immersed herself in the off-court implications of the trade. Derrick’s wife, Hannah, was pregnant with their first son, Hendrix, and the newlywed couple was settled in San Antonio.

In a flash, they’d have to relocate across the country and figure out everything from scratch.

“I’m just in shock, because I’m thinking, being the woman and everything, oh my god, he’s having a baby,” Colleen recalls. “They love it down there. Just, kind of going through the real-life emotions.”

While Derrick became one of the NBA’s most reliable players, his mom is still pinching herself

Today, there’s no question that the trade that sent Derrick and Hannah to Boston was a blessing in disguise.

“I was pretty upset when I got traded,” Derrick said earlier this season before a game in Miami. “But looking back, it was probably the best thing to happen to me.”

As a Celtic, White has been named to two All-Defense teams and emerged as a core member of the 2024 championship team. He’s blossomed into a borderline All-Star, and signed a 4-year, $126 million extension over the summer.

And, throughout his burgeoning success, White has always credited Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla.

“It starts with Joe,” Derrick said last June. “Ever since he took over, he’s just given me the most confidence.”

“He’s one of the best point guards in the league,” Mazzulla proclaimed earlier this season.

Today, Derrick appears in advertisements all around the city — Sam Adams, Berkshire Bank, the like — and when he takes the TD Garden floor for warmups, he’s met with a crowd pop like no other.

“It’s cute to see how the city embraced him and seemed to really kind of take him in,” Coleen said. “He didn’t feel that in San Antonio at all. So it was just like, ‘Wow, this is really cool.’ I love the atmosphere of Boston and how they’re passionate about their sports.”

White’s Celtics coaches and teammates are always eager to shower him with praise.

“Derrick’s just a tremendous player,” Payton Pritchard said in February. “He doesn’t really have a weakness — very good person and fun person to be around. As far as the locker room goes, he helps in that aspect. You can plug him in anywhere, he can play with anybody.”

Then, he states the obvious: “Brad did a great job with that trade.”

For the White family, the earlier adversity has made the current success even more rewarding.

“We didn’t have any grandiose expectations, like so many who knew from the start,” Colleen said. “Everything has just been kind of an amazing journey.”

So, when Derrick’s parents turn on the television to tune into their son’s NBA games, it all still feels surreal.

“We’re just sitting at home going, ‘Wow, we’re watching our son in the NBA,’” Colleen said. “It’s not even seven, eight years later, and you still kind of pinch yourself a little bit, especially in the playoffs, just watching him be so calm and collected out there.”

Derrick laughs when he recalls his initial reluctance to being traded to Boston. He recognizes how much the city has embraced him. He’s not burdened by his rising visibility and fame.

“I’m just thankful that the city of Boston has really welcomed me with open arms and shown so much love to me and to my family,” Derrick said. “I wouldn’t change anything.”