The Boston Celtics traded for Derrick White during the 2021-22 NBA season.
Previously, Derrick White had impressed fans with incredible defensive prowess for the San Antonio Spurs.
Evidently, the Boston Celtics utilized White in a similar role for the first one and a half seasons with the franchise. White averaged just 11.7 points per game for the team during that stint.
However, there has been a noticeable spike in White’s scoring per game since 2023, and Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is responsible for it.
Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty ImagesDerrick White reveals Stephen Curry’s ‘unbelievable’ compliment
White and the Celtics took Curry’s Warriors during the 2022 NBA Finals. White’s side came up short as the Dubs won the 2022 NBA Championship.
But it seems like the Baby-Faced Assassin was impressed with White’s ability, as evidenced by the Warriors star’s compliment.
“Steph came up to me two years ago, like, ‘What have you been doing? This is unbelievable. Congrats. I respect your work,’” White revealed on the White Noise podcast.
He added: “I’m like, ‘Let me shoot some more. I got to jack some more shots.’ Says I’m doing something right. I must be doing something right.”
There has been a clear change in White’s scoring since Curry’s compliment. After all, the Celtics guard has averaged 15.8 points per game for the team over the last two seasons.
Derrick White on his shooting technique
Taking more shots doesn’t always equate to more points in the NBA. After all, elite technique is required to truly make a star a danger on the offensive end of the floor.
White is aware of this as he further stated: “But I think the technique I know, I’m more consistent with it. I don’t have my thumb in it. I’m more up and down.”
“I’m getting a better arc and my mentality of, ‘Just get a good shot up there.’ I can’t really control if it makes or misses, but I can control if I put up a good shot,” the Celtics star concluded.
The 31-year-old averaged a career-best 16.4 points per game last season, but fans should expect this number to further increase during the 2025-26 NBA season.
It will be a direct result of Jayson Tatum’s extended absence during the regular season as he recovers from a torn Achilles tendon injury.