On Tuesday, Derrick White appeared on ESPN’s “NBA Immediately”, donning a newly-shaved head that made headlines earlier within the week as he expressed pleasure for the yr forward.

He shared with Malika Andrews that he was excited for his new position because the crew’s place to begin guard (as confirmed by Joe Mazzula final month), and most notably, that he want to signal an extension earlier than the season begins, if the chance presents itself.

“I really like being right here in Boston. It might be cool to get an extension,” White mentioned. “We’ll see what occurs throughout that window, however I’ve beloved my time in Boston up to now and my focus proper now’s simply on the season.”

White is presently getting into the third yr of a four-year, $73 million extension he signed with the Spurs in 2020. He can have the prospect to barter a three-year extension with the crew throughout a quick, three-week window in September. In different phrases, now that Jaylen Brown’s extension is within the rearview, we will flip our consideration to the subsequent potential contract saga.

It stays to be seen whether or not the Celtics will provide White the type of extension he’s looking for, and on the heels of Brown signing the richest contract in NBA historical past, the crew’s long-term cap area is proscribed. However, the Celtics ought to expend all choices to increase White, as a result of if all goes in line with plan, his worth may very well be a complete lot increased in future years.

Why the Celtics ought to wager on Derrick White

The onerous nosed defender is coming off of a productive 2022-23 marketing campaign, the place he averaged 12.4 factors per sport on 46% capturing, together with a career-high 38.1% from three.

His numbers rose within the playoffs — he averaged 13.4 factors on 50.5% capturing, together with a team-best 45.5% from three. A stellar run was capped off by a historic Recreation 6 putback buzzer-beater that prolonged the Celtics season, which made White solely the second participant in NBA historical past to stave off elimination with a sport winner (Michael Jordan was the primary).

And as a lot as he impressed offensively, protection remained White’s calling card all year long — he led all guards in blocks, with 76 on the season, and was named to the All-Defensive Second Staff.

In Sensible’s absence, White is anticipated to play a much bigger offensive position, and whereas pundits have spent the summer time debating whether or not he’ll thrive in that place, he doesn’t seem fazed by the problem.

“I’m trying ahead to it,” White mentioned. “I’ll undoubtedly have the ball in my palms, extra of a playmaker position, and I’m trying ahead to develop with the crew and simply get us in the proper place every time.”

White began 70 video games final season (out of 82 performed), however averaged solely 28.3 minutes per sport and infrequently discovered himself on the bench down the stretch in shut video games, with Joe Mazzulla usually deferring to Malcolm Brogdon and Marcus Sensible within the again court docket. However within the 21 common season video games that Sensible missed final season, White averaged 15.4 factors per sport — the identical variety of factors he averaged in his 2021 Spurs marketing campaign.

“I don’t assume will probably be an enormous adjustment,” White mentioned. “I’m simply going to have the ball in my palms extra, which I’ve completed just about most of my profession, so simply getting again to that and simply getting the fellows in the proper spot.”

The star trio of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis ought to make his job a complete lot simpler. “The issues he [Porzingis] can do on the court docket are particular,” White mentioned on Tuesday. “He had a sport in opposition to us final season the place he was unreal. So as to add a man like that to our crew, we’re all trying ahead to it. It’s going so as to add a special dimension to our crew.”

What an extension may imply for the franchise

If the Celtics and White can comply with an extension, they successfully make sure the Tatum-Brown-Porzingis-White core is locked down for the foreseeable future.

The Celtics have now secured Jaylen Brown by means of the 2027-28 season (with a 5-year, $304 million supermax extension final week), and Kristaps Porzingis by means of the 2025-26 season (with a two-year, $60 million extension signed earlier final month).

Tatum, who’s already made All-NBA for 2 consecutive seasons, shall be eligible to signal his personal supermax subsequent offseason. Having simply accomplished the second yr of his present five-year extension, Tatum can have the choice of signing by means of the 2029-30 season. Tatum’s extension will probably be even richer than Brown’s, provided that the NBA shall be negotiating a brand new media rights offers which is anticipated to extend the cap.

Horford, Brogdon and White are all presently set to develop into free brokers within the 2025 offseason. Horford shall be 39 by that point, and may very well be eyeing retirement after signing a team-friendly, two-year extension in December. Brogdon’s future in Boston is unclear, particularly contemplating he was initially – and really publicly – the principle commerce piece within the preliminary Porzingis deal, earlier than the Clippers pulled out and Marcus Sensible acquired shipped to Memphis.

So, all indicators level to the Celtics viewing Derrick White as a crucial a part of the long run. And excellent news for followers – it appears like White acknowledges that the one success for this core is a championship.

“Boston’s a title city. That’s what they count on from us, that’s what they need from us every yr,” White mentioned. “Clearly we’ve been proper there the final couple years and it’s simply little issues every yr that we gotta do a greater job of within the playoffs and it begins from Day 1. We simply gotta proceed to place collectively good days and I like our probabilities subsequent yr.”