According to Derrick White, the San Antonio Spurs knew that they were sending him to a great spot when they traded him to the Boston Celtics back in 2022. He spoke about how the deal went down on the first episode of his new podcast, White Noise.
“Pop walks into the room, and he’s like, 'Uh, we traded you.' And I’m like, 'Shut up, Pop.' We got Pop up here somewhere— For real, shoutout to Pop. We love that guy. But yeah, Pop calls me: 'What room are you in?' It’s trade deadline, so I’m like, 'Oh, where am I going?' He knocks on the door, sits down in my room, and goes, 'Hey, uh, we traded you.' Doesn’t say anything else. I’m like, 'To where?' And he goes, 'We wouldn’t f*ck you. We sent you to Boston.'
“I just played that summer with JT, JB, and Smart. So I knew a bunch of people there. He’s like, 'You’re going to be comfortable. They’ll kind of bring you along.' And I’m like, 'All right, yeah, that’s cool.' I thought I’d fit well there, but also like—What? Why? What did I do?”
Looking in the mirror at the Derrick White trade
Obviously, the Spurs probably wish they still had White right now. Their guard position is stacked, but adding White’s defense and elite three-point shooting would be perfect next to Victor Wembanyama.
However, trading White definitely helped them tank well enough to land Wembanyama, setting themselves up to be in the position they are in now.
Meanwhile, the Celtics should be absolutely thrilled with how the trade panned out, especially considering the package they gave up to get him, as none of the assets have panned out to be too valuable.
Boston shipped out Romeo Langford, Josh Richardson, their 2022 first-round pick, which turned into Blake Wesley, and a 2028 first-rounder that is top-one protected.
Langford is no longer in the NBA, and the same can be said for Richardson, though he was phased out due to age, while Langford simply didn’t pan out.
On top of that, the Spurs just gave up on Wesley, trading him to the Washington Wizards this offseason in a deal to land Kelly Olynyk. And while the 2028 first-rounder has yet to be conveyed, once Jayson Tatum is back on the court, the Celtics will likely be back to competing by then.
All in all, the Spurs were right—they did send White to a beneficial position. He helped Boston win a championship, and both he and the Celtics are probably very pleased with the way things went down (even if the trade stung in the moment).