Derrick White on Signing Extension with Celtics: 'I Love Being Here in Boston'

Derrick White's coming off the best season of his career, averaging 12.4 points, 3.9 assists, shooting 38.1 percent on threes, and making the NBA's All-Defensive Second Team.

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After the press conference for Jaylen Brown signing the most lucrative contract in the NBA's history, Joe Mazzulla told Inside The Celtics that when it comes to maximizing the trio of Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis, and Brown, "You obviously are gonna do some different things to adhere to your roster on both ends of the floor, but at the end of the day, the principles remain the same."

Boston's bench boss also confirmed Derrick White will step into Marcus Smart's role as starting point guard. The former's coming off a career campaign, averaging 12.4 points, 3.9 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and nearly a steal and a block per game. He also only committed 1.2 turnovers per contest and drilled 38.1 percent of the 4.8 threes he hoisted.

The former Colorado Buffalo, who started in 70 games and played all 82 in the regular season, also earned a spot on the NBA's All-Defensive Second Team.

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In an appearance on ESPN's NBA Today, White, whose salary is $17.6 million for 2023-24 and $18.8 million for 2024-25, said of signing an extension with the Celtics, "I love being here in Boston. It'd be cool to get an extension."

There's an opportunity from the end of September until the start of the upcoming season to get that done. To which White expressed, "We'll see what happens during that window. But I've loved my time in Boston so far. And my focus right now is just on the season."

And as the 29-year-old combo guard transitions to operating primarily as the Celtics' floor general, he told host Malika Andrews he doesn't anticipate that shift being a big adjustment.

"I'll just have the ball in my hands more, which I've done, pretty much, most of my career. So, just getting back to that and getting the guys in the right spot. Obviously, with JT, JB, Porzingis now, I've got a lot of talented guys around me, that makes my job pretty easy."

Further Reading

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