Speaking candidly on the latest episode of his “White Noise” podcast, Derrick White acknowledged how “different” the upcoming Celtics season feels following the franchise’s offseason roster overhaul.
Between Jayson Tatum’s Achilles injury and the departures of Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Luke Kornet and Al Horford, Boston will enter the 2025-26 campaign without more than half of its core rotation from last season. White — one of the few returning mainstays along with fellow starter Jaylen Brown and top reserves Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser — knows the expectations for this new-look group have changed.
“It’s definitely going to be different. It has to be,” the veteran guard said. “We lost KP, Jrue, Luke, and obviously JT being out. So, you lose three out of five starters. And even Al. So it’s definitely going to change. We’re a younger team. Kind of ever since I’ve been in Boston, we’ve had the same core. We’ve had the same group. Obviously, we still have a lot of people from (those teams) — me, JB, Sam, Payton — people that know how we do things. But I think that’ll be probably the biggest adjustment — 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.
“Obviously, we’ve got training camp and everything, and I’ve heard everybody is already out there (in Boston) pretty much, so they’re already probably getting a start. But then we’re just hooping. We’ve got a bunch of competitors.”
Of the five new players on the Celtics’ 15-man roster, just one (former Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons) has been a consistent NBA starter. The rest are either career backups (Luka Garza, Josh Minott and Chris Boucher) or new to the league (first-round draft pick Hugo Gonzalez).
Boucher, a longtime Toronto Raptor who played with Pritchard at Oregon, has “always brought a lot of energy,” White said. Garza and Minott, deep reserves in Minnesota for the last three seasons, are “just hungry to kind of prove themselves.” White said he’s also heard good things about Simons, who averaged 20.7 points and 8.8 3-point attempts per game over his three seasons as a starter in Portland, and is looking forward to “bringing him along and teaching him how we do things.”
“I think it’s exciting,” White said. “We’ve got guys who are hungry. They want to prove themselves. They want to help us win games.”
Brown, long the 1B to Tatum’s 1A, will have an opportunity to be Boston’s central star for the first time in his career, and White should take on a more prominent offensive role, as well. The 31-year-old set the Celtics’ single-season record for made 3-pointers last season but was the team’s fourth-leading scorer behind Tatum, Brown and Porzingis.
The Celtics have not announced a timeline for Tatum’s return, but he is expected to miss most or all of this season while he recovers.
“I don’t know what my role is going to be game to game, and I kind of don’t want to be like, ‘Oh, I have to do this. JT’s out, so now I have to,'” White said. “I don’t want to put myself in that mind. Obviously, I’ve 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’m going to just maybe press or do something that’s not me. I’ve got to stay true to who I am, what makes me successful, so I don’t know what the role’s going to be. Whatever it might be, I’m just trying to compete, I’m trying to help us win as many games as possible, and I’m really excited.”
One returning Celtic who’s likely to see a much larger workload this season is center Neemias Queta, who could vault from fourth to first on the depth chart with Porzingis, Horford and Kornet gone.
“Neemi, (head coach) Joe (Mazzulla) has been super hard on him for the last couple years, kind of preparing him for something like this,” White said. “Obviously, he’s going to have to have a big year — I mean, he’s going to have a big year, and we’re going to ask a lot out of him, which is exciting. (He’s) a guy that works hard, competes at a high level, just continuing to learn what works in the NBA, what doesn’t work, how he can help us. So we’re super excited for Neemi, and I’m a big fan. He’s had so many different moments these last two years where he’s helped us win games or he’s changed the momentum of a game, so it’s a big moment for him.”
Winners of 60-plus games in each of the last two seasons and 50-plus in each of the last four, the Celtics are projected to be a fringe playoff team at best in 2025-26. Their championship odds at multiple major sportsbooks rank seventh in the Eastern Conference.
“We’ve got a lot of talent, and we’ve got a great coaching staff, so it’s going to be a fun year,” said White, who’s reached two NBA Finals and won one championship since joining the Celtics in 2022. “(This is the) first time since I’ve been in Boston that people, like, don’t believe in us, so that’s a fun spot for me to be in, for sure. It’s kind of where I’ve always done my best, actually.”
Originally Published: September 4, 2025 at 10:24 AM EDT