{"id":133857,"date":"2025-09-05T04:06:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/133857\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T04:06:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T04:06:10","slug":"derrick-white-gets-candid-about-different-celtics-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/133857\/","title":{"rendered":"Derrick White gets candid about \u2018different\u2019 Celtics season"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCeltics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“You lose three out of five starters. And even Al. So it\u2019s definitely going to change.”<\/p>\n

\"Boston
\n\tDerrick White and the Celtics are facing plenty of uncertainty going into the 2025-26 season. (AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II)\t<\/p>\n

The Boston Celtics could be staring at a bridge season in 2025-26.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After securing their sought-after 18th championship in June 2024, Boston\u2019s hopes of establishing a sustainable title contender suffered serious setbacks over the last few months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Celtics received a devastating blow during the 2025 playoffs after superstar forward Jayson Tatum ruptured his Achilles tendon \u2014 which could sideline him for the entire 2025-26 campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But beyond the absence of Tatum, what was once a loaded depth chart in Boston was decimated this offseason given the looming luxury-tax penalties that were set to hamper the Celtics\u2019 fiscal flexibility for the foreseeable future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In order to cut payroll, Boston traded away two starters in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to alleviate the luxury-tax infractions. With limited spending power on hand, the Celtics were also unable to retain key lineup fixtures in Luke Kornet and Al Horford in free agency.<\/p>\n

Boston still has some star power in place next season with Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard leading the way.<\/p>\n

But speaking on his \u201cWhite Noise\u201d podcast, White was candid about the different dynamics at play for the Celtics going into the 2025-26 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely going to be different. It has to be. \u201cWe lost KP, Jrue, Luke, and obviously JT being out. So, you lose three out of five starters. And even Al. So it\u2019s definitely going to change,\u201d White said.<\/a> \u201cWe\u2019re a younger team. Kind of ever since I\u2019ve been in Boston, we\u2019ve had the same core. We\u2019ve had the same group. \u2026 I think that\u2019ll be probably the biggest adjustment \u2014 just getting everybody accustomed to how we do things in Boston and how we like to play, how we operate. So I think that will be the biggest adjustment, just getting the new guys on board as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we\u2019ve got training camp and everything, and I\u2019ve heard everybody is already out there (in Boston) pretty much, so they\u2019re already probably getting a start. But then we\u2019re just hooping. We\u2019ve got a bunch of competitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with Boston\u2019s cap-related moves and the subsequent turnover, the Celtics could have conceivably positioned themselves as a tough out next season with a healthy Tatum still in place alongside Brown and White.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But now, the Celtics are largely stuck in limbo this winter as they await Tatum\u2019s return from an extensive rehab.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what my role is going to be game to game, and I kind of don\u2019t want to be like, \u2018Oh, I have to do this. JT\u2019s out, so now I have to,\u2019\u201d White said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to put myself in that mind. Obviously, I\u2019ve been working hard and trying to figure out how I can get better, but I feel like if I put myself in that mindset, I\u2019m going to just maybe press or do something that\u2019s not me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got to stay true to who I am, what makes me successful, so I don\u2019t know what the role\u2019s going to be. Whatever it might be, I\u2019m just trying to compete, I\u2019m trying to help us win as many games as possible, and I\u2019m really excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if Boston is not viewed as a legitimate championship contender this year, White believes that underdog label should motivate a Celtics roster that still believes it has more to give this winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of talent, and we\u2019ve got a great coaching staff, so it\u2019s going to be a fun year,\u201d White said. \u201c(This is the) first time since I\u2019ve been in Boston that people, like, don\u2019t believe in us, so that\u2019s a fun spot for me to be in, for sure. It\u2019s kind of where I\u2019ve always done my best, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Celtics updates\ud83c\udfc0<\/p>\n

Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during basketball season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celtics “You lose three out of five starters. And even Al. So it\u2019s definitely going to change.” Derrick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-133857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}