Only a tiny portion of the world’s top athletes ever get a chance to participate in the Olympics to compete to bring a gold medal home to the country one represents. And even fewer still do so from the top of the mountain in their respective sport, but that is exactly how Boston Celtics point guard Derrick White learned of his chance to play for the US National Team in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
On a recent episode of his “White Noise” podcast, the Celtics floor general shared how he learned of the possibility of his joining Team USA in the wake of Boston winning Banner 18. “The night we won the championship was the first time I said something about the Olympics,” recalled White to his cohost Welsh. “We were in the playoffs when I saw a tweet saying if Kawhi couldn’t go, I might be a possibility.”
“My agent didn’t bring it up — we were focused on the playoffs,” added the University of Colorado – Boulder alum. “Then we won. I was in the hallway like, ‘Mike, am I going to the Olympics?’ He’s like, we’ll see.”
“In that moment, I was like, I’m going,” he continued. “But then I didn’t hear anything. They said Kawhi was at training camp in Vegas, so I thought I wasn’t going. I moved on. Then, later, USA called. I had to go.”
“Missed our huge 30th birthday trip to Mexico. They had a life-size cutout of me at the party. I paid for the whole weekend for everyone, even though I wasn’t there. Wasn’t cheap. But I had to go win a gold.”
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