White Wins 2nd Career Player of the Week Award

For the second time in his career, Derrick White has been named Eastern Conference Player of the Week following a historic mid-March stretch for the Celtics guard.

From March 18 to March 23, White averaged 20.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 1.3 turnovers, while helping to guide Boston to a perfect 4-0 record. Throughout the week, he was the only NBA player to record at least 35 assists while committing no more than five turnovers. He also corralled the second-most rebounds among East guards with 26.

Over his last five games, White totaled 94 points, 40 assists, and five turnovers, making him one of just two players in franchise history to record over 90 points, at least 40 assists, and no more than five turnovers over a five-game stretch. The other was Payton Pritchard, who remarkably logged 91 points, 40 assists, and five turnovers during the same stretch and joined White on the list of five nominees for the weekly honor.

White, who last won the award in February 2023, became the third Celtic to earn Player of the Week this season, joining Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Boston is the only team to have three different winners of the award this season.

Now, let’s take a look back at each performance from White’s stellar week.

White started the week with a major career milestone by registering his first triple-double in a 119-94 win over the Pistons. He scored 22 points while shooting 6-of-12 from long distance to go along with 10 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and one block in 37 minutes. It was his second double-digit rebound effort of the season and, at the time it marked his third double-digit assist performance. He became just the third player in Celtics history to record a triple-double while making at least six threes, joining Pritchard and Antoine Walker.

White’s highest-scoring effort of the week happened to come against Boston’s best opponent of the week, as he dropped 23 points on the second-place Milwaukee Bucks in a 122-119 win. The Colorado native shot 8-of-17 from the field, including 4-of-11 from deep, and also made all three of his free-throw attempts. White was Boston’s top distributor, handing out eight assists while not committing a single turnover. He also corralled five rebounds and blocked two shots in his 37 minutes of action.

Another game against the Pistons and almost another triple-double effort for White. On Friday night, he logged 19 points, eight rebounds, a season-high-tying 11 assists, one block, and one turnover as part of a 129-102 road win. It marked the third time this season that White handed out exactly 11 assists, though this was his best assist-to-turnover ratio of the bunch. Although his 5-of-14 shooting performance from the field wasn’t up to his standard of efficiency, he made up for it with one of his best free-throw efforts of the season, shooting 8-of-9 from the line.

White finished off the week with his eighth straight double-digit scoring performance, notching 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting in a 124-113 win over the Bulls. He also grabbed three rebounds, dished out six assists, snagged one steal, and committed just one turnover during 38 minutes in the second game of a back-to-back, as the Celtics picked up their ninth straight win.