Ahead of the Boston Celtics 2025-26 regular season schedule’s start, most NBA analysts (and to be honest, many Celtics fans) believed the Celtics would have a so-called ‘gap year’ in the absence of injured star Jayson Tatum as the St. Louis native recovers from a torn Achilles tendon. But Tatum’s costar on the wing Jaylen Brown stepped up in a major way, playing well enough to warrant serious consideration for the league’s Most Valuable Player award this season.

After being snubbed for the Association’s Player of the Month award for December despite earning Player of the Week for two of the three weeks that counted, Brown put up a career-high tieing 50 points vs. the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday (Jan. 3). When asked about whether he expected a season like this after the dazzling outburst from Brown, teammate Derrick White replied (via CLNS Media), “you never really know going into the season.”

Advertisement

“But I was pretty confident in the summer that we would do a lot of good things,” added the University of Colorado – Boulder alum. “Obviously, we had a lot of new faces, new roles, and so you don’t know how quickly it’s going to happen.”

INGLEWOOD, CA - JANUARY 3: Derrick White #9 of the Boston Celtics shoots over Cam Christie #12 of the Los Angeles Clippers during the second half of an NBA game on January 3, 2026 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin Terrell/Getty Images)

INGLEWOOD, CA – JANUARY 3: Derrick White #9 of the Boston Celtics shoots over Cam Christie #12 of the Los Angeles Clippers during the second half of an NBA game on January 3, 2026 at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin Terrell/Getty Images)

“But I was pretty confident going into the season that the work that we put in, I’ve seen — I mean, a lot of guys do that work behind the scenes that you guys probably haven’t seen before, and now you’re surprised that they’re playing the way they’re playing,” he added.

“So it’s just been fun to see all those guys get their opportunity and make the most of it.”

Listen to “Havlicek Stole the Pod” on:

Advertisement

Blue Wire: https://tiny.ee/CdKp

iTunes: https://tiny.ee/RK47

YouTube: https://tiny.ee/cOW3

This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: White on when he started thinking this version of Celtics could compete