Boston Celtics guard Derrick White revealed that he had already booked his 30th birthday trip to Mexico before receiving a last-minute invite to join the USA Olympic team — an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
Boston Celtics star Derrick White had a memorable summer of 2024.
Derrick White
Derrick White
Position: PG
Age: 31
Height: 196 cm
Weight: 91 kg
Birth place: United States of America
After winning his first NBA championship with the Celtics that year, he was called up to the USA national team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Recently, on the latest episode of the White Noise Podcast, he revealed a story about how he had to cancel all his plans for a luxurious 30th birthday trip to Mexico to play with the national team in the Olympics.
“The night we won the championship was the first time I said something about the Olympics,” White recalled.
“We were in the playoffs when I saw a tweet saying if Kawhi couldn’t go, I might be a possibility. My agent didn’t bring it up — we were focused on the playoffs. Then we won. I was in the hallway like, ‘Mike, am I going to the Olympics?’ He’s like, we’ll see.”
Credit USA Basketball
“In that moment, I was like, I’m going. But then I didn’t hear anything. They said Kawhi was at training camp in Vegas, so I thought I wasn’t going. I moved on. Then, later, USA called."
"I had to go," White said. "Missed our huge 30th birthday trip to Mexico. They had a life-size cutout of me at the party. I paid for the whole weekend for everyone, even though I wasn’t there. Wasn’t cheap. But I had to go win a gold."
White went on to average 3.8 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and a team-best 1.4 steals in 15.8 minutes per game, and he helped win the Olympic gold medal with an insane final game against France.
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