Derrick White Will Sign A $125.9 Million Extension With The Celtics

The Boston Celtics are the only team that came into this offseason feeling like they didn’t need to do anything other than bring back their current squad. Boston’s run to a title was incredibly impressive this season, as they were the best team in the regular season and dropped a grand total of three games over four rounds.

With most of their main rotation under contract for at least another year, the Celtics wrapped up a deal to bring back their biggest free agent, Luke Kornet, as free agency began and could then turn their attention to contract extensions. After already locking up Jrue Holiday on a long-term deal during the season (and Jaylen Brown last summer), they had a record extension to offer Jayson Tatum and a decision to make on Derrick White. White has become an incredibly important piece for Boston as their starting point guard who unlocks a lot of their defensive versatility and has become a tremendous three-point shooting threat on the other end.

White certainly could have looked to maximize his earnings on the free agent market next summer with a small cap bump coming with the new TV deal, but instead opted to sign an extension for 4 years, $125.9 million (with a player option) to stay with the team that has fully unlocked his best.

White averaged 15.2 points, 5.2 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game this season on 46.1/39.6/90.1 shooting splits, and upped his scoring output to 16.7 points on 45.5/40.4/92.1 splits in the playoffs. His ability to be a third option offensively while being one of the NBA’s best and most versatile perimeter defenders, creating a nightmarish pairing for opponents with Holiday, makes the Celtics a title team. They’re now locked into this core long-term and might have some second apron things to deal with in the future, but for now they are doing what few others are willing to and paying to keep a title team together.