Derrick White
© Mark J. Rebilas – USA TODAY Sports
NBA players may be famous and paid handsomely to put a ball in the basket, but Boston Celtics Derrick White is one of many who have prioritized education along the way.
White’s road to Boston
The versatile guard was traded to the Celtics in February this year as part of a multi-team trade with the San Antonio Spurs that landed White in Boston and Romeo Langford and Josh Richardson in Texas. In addition to Langford and Richardson, the Spurs were compensated with a top-four protected first-round pick to sweeten the deal.
White’s addition to the organization has been seamless, slotting perfectly in a Celtic system that relies on ball movement and versatility that has allowed them to ascend into arguably the best team in the league.
His skillset is desirable in the grand NBA landscape as a prototypical Spurs’ product who can adapt and succeed in various situations due to the fundamentals he’s learned along the way.
Education came first.
White is not only productive, but he’s also incredibly intelligent on and off the floor. To his credit, the 28-year-old is one of many NBA players who has prioritized education despite his rise to stardom and generational wealth.
Scroll to Continue
His dedication to his studies was so admirable that former NBA sharpshooter JJ Redick felt inclined to bring it to light when he recently had White as a guest on his “Old Man and the Tree” podcast.
Redick: “I heard you paid off your student loans with your first NBA paycheck. Is that true?”
White: “Yeah, my freshman year, I got a loan, and I had it the whole time, and then my first paycheck I paid it off and then and that was pretty cool to do.”
White’s journey is unique
White’s situation is quite unique, given that most players who make it to the NBA are heavily recruited and have been granted scholarships or walk-ons in college. In addition, they’re often paid off the books for choosing the college program that won the race for their services.
This wasn’t the case for White, who was lightly recruited during his high school playing career and wasn’t a genuine NBA prospect until the latter part of his college tenure.
Because of this, the Colorado native had to pay his way through college by borrowing money and still had that debt next to his name even though he was on an NBA roster.
When hearing his story, you have to respect the journey and the grind White dedicated himself to every day to have a professional basketball career.
Now, he finds himself in the best situation in the league as a key rotation piece in a Celtics team destined to achieve great things.
.