Celtics’ Derrick White’s humble reaction to winning Eastern Conference Player of the Week

Derrick White and the Boston Celtics have enjoyed an incredibly strong first 4/5 of the 2023-24 NBA season, currently holders of the best record in the NBA by a country mile and closing in on securing home court advantage for the entirety of the NBA playoffs, as they’ve already done so for the Eastern Conference part of the bracket. White’s importance to the Celtics was made especially clear on Monday evening when the team utterly collapsed in his absence during their game vs the Atlanta Hawks, relinquishing a 30-point lead and reverting to isolation heavy offense in the clutch despite not having the right personnel for that style.

Recently, White was rewarded for his efforts over the last week when he was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week, joining Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis, who was awarded that distinction for the Western Conference.

In true Derrick White fashion, the San Antonio Spur was nothing but humble when asked about his reaction to the honor on Thursday, sharing that he thought his Celtics teammate Payton Pritchard deserved the distinction over him.

“It’s pretty cool. I’m just thankful to be a part of this team. I felt like us being 4-0 when I was playing was a big reason for it, so just thankful,” said White, per Celtics on CLNS on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “…Honestly I thought Payton should have won the award, but you just get more opportunity, more chance to be more aggressive… just being aggressive and trying to make plays to help us win.”

An invaluable piece for the Celtics

Whatever gaps are left behind by the star trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White fills. White was brought into the Celtics organization from the Spurs at the 2022 NBA trade deadline at a price that now looks ridiculous from a San Antonio perspective. Since joining Boston, White has established himself as one of the greatest shot-blocking guards in NBA history and has also significantly improved his offensive game, turning into an elite three-point shooter who can also put the ball on the floor and create plays for his teammates.

In fact, so impressive has White’s season been that the Boston media started a fringe All-Star campaign, that was viewed in most circles as something of a meme but still manifested itself in the relatively large number of fan votes that the former Colorado Buffaloes star received.

White also provides a degree of stability, along with Jrue Holiday, to a Celtics offense that tends to fall off the rails when left in the hands of Jayson Tatum and particularly Jaylen Brown down the stretch of close games. While there’s no denying the talent of Boston’s star duo, ballhandling against tight defense is decidedly not one of them for either player.

In any case, the Celtics will now look to finish the regular season on a strong note before opening up the postseason in April, where they will be the number one seed in the Eastern Conference by no small margin.