Derrick White and the Celtics have till 11:59 p.m. on Monday to succeed in an settlement on a contract extension or have to attend till after the season is over. But the guard doesn’t appear fearful about it by hook or by crook.
“I love it here. It’s been great here being a Celtic,” White mentioned. “That will never change whether I sign before the season or not. If it happens, great. If not, I’m still excited for the season to be here.”
White has two years remaining on the four-year, $70 million extension he signed with the Spurs in 2020. He’s as a result of earn $18.4 million this season after which $19.6 million in 2024-25. Under the brand new guidelines of the collective bargaining settlement, White can prolong for 3 years at 140% of his 2024-25 wage, so a deal would seem like one thing round three years, $85 million that may start in 2025-26.
White might definitely command extra money by constructing off his breakout 2022-23 season and having one other massive yr in 2023-24. But the Celtics have already made two massive commitments this summer time with the extensions of Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, they usually’ll nearly definitely offer Jayson Tatum a supermax extension when he’s eligible subsequent summer time. The crew can also be reportedly fascinated about extending Jrue Holiday, who’s eligible for one in February.
Payton Pritchard, after he signed his contract extension not too long ago, mentioned he utterly stayed out of negotiations and let his agent deal with every part. But White mentioned he’s at the least considerably stayed engaged.
“Obviously talk to my agent and my agent talks to me,” White mentioned. “I’m involved a little bit. Probably somewhere in the middle between Payton and maybe like, I don’t know, someone that’s really involved.”
No matter if White indicators an extension within the subsequent week or not, his worth as a dependable two-way participant and confirmed all-league defender is obvious, even when he’s nonetheless being missed.
ESPN launched its annual Top 100 participant rankings final week – compiled by a panel of practically 150 reporters, editors, producers and analysts – and in some way, laughably, White was left off the listing. Other guards who’ve not too long ago been much less impactful, like Russell Westbrook and Mike Conley, made the listing over White. Even former teammate Grant Williams made the reduce.
White wasn’t fazed by the snub.
“Was I surprised? I mean, that’s just kind of how my life has always been, so not really surprised,” White mentioned. “It is what it is. I don’t really focus too much on it.”
White has clear respect across the league, which has been obvious in gentle of that exclusion. J.J. Redick, who works for ESPN, ripped White’s snub from the listing on a latest episode of his podcast. Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell mentioned after his crew’s preseason sport on Sunday that White is serving as an inspiration for his play this season, noting that the Celtics guard doesn’t get the credit score he deserves for all of the profitable performs he makes. White noticed that when he wakened Monday morning.
“That was cool. I was kind of shocked,” White mentioned. “I woke up and my boy sent me the D’Angelo Russell quote. But I mean especially from someone that’s done so much, an All-Star in this league, it was cool to hear. J.J., that’s my man. Shoutout to him. I don’t really focus on Top 100 or whatnot, but it’s cool to have that recognition from great players.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com