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A summer of change has left the Boston Celtics looking very different heading into the new season and Derrick White is anxious.
Following a playoff exit at the hands of the New York Knicks and Jayson Tatum’s torn Achilles, the front office was forced to navigate the second tax apron with some major roster decisions.
Kristaps Porzingis was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, Jrue Holiday landed in Portland, Luke Kornet signed with San Antonio, and Al Horford remains unsigned. That left only Jaylen Brown and Derrick White as the remaining starters from the team that won the 2023–24 championship.
White admitted the roster turnover hit hard.
“Yeah, I mean, that is the tough part about the business,” White said, via Sports Illustrated. “But it is a business at the end of the day. Jrue, KP, Luke [Kornet], all of them, it was definitely tough to see them leave. You wish we could play with them forever, but this is kind of the way it is. I always wish them the best. There will be a lot of fun when we see them again. And I’m just excited to play with the people we do have.”
White is coming off his best season yet, averaging a career-high 16.4 points per game.
With Tatum sidelined and two starters gone, the 30-year-old guard knows his role will expand.
“I’m excited,” White said. “It’s obviously a different year than last year, but I think we have the same expectations and standards. So I’ve been attacking this offseason as, ‘I gotta get better.’ It’s been really fun trying to get in the gym and improve on things that I need to work on. When we get back to Boston, it’ll be a lot of fun.”
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