4 X-factors that can elevate an NBA title contender to a championship

NBA: Derrick White-Boston Celtics

Despite the Boston Celtics’ impressive turnaround after January, they decided to make a move to improve the roster. They traded Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, a 2022 first-round pick (that became Blake Wesley), and a pick swap for Derrick White. Thus far, however, the Spurs are winning that trade. Richardson, who was already shooting 39% from three with the Celtics, shot an incredible 44% with the Spurs and helped them make the play-in tournament.

Even Wesley looks promising, and that 2026 pick swap could come back to bite Boston. Meanwhile, White had his moments during the final four months of the season, but he can play much better than he has thus far. With the Spurs, White was a terrific defender and playmaker who appeared as though he might break out during the 2020–21 season. He, however, has continued to struggle with injuries, and his jumper has all but abandoned him.

Prior to the trade, he was expected to lead the Spurs in scoring and assists but saw Dejounte Murray breakout. White settled for being the team’s third-leading scorer, and to be honest, he was better suited for it, but he continued to struggle shooting the ball, causing his value to suffer. The Celtics saw that firsthand when he hit just 31% of his threes in both the regular season and the postseason.

Still, there are reasons for Celtics fans to be bullish on White this season. For one, he’ll be healthy to start the year, which is big for him since he’s entered three different seasons with injuries, causing him to get off to slow starts. He also had to learn the Celtics’ playbook on the fly when he was acquired in February but will have a full training camp and preseason to get familiar with the team’s sets.

A healthy and more ingratiated White gives the Celtics more ball-handling and playmaking, as well as another top-tier guard that they can use on opposing backcourts to try and slow down the point of attack. That’s all well and good, but a lot rides on his ability to knock down open shots. It’s unclear if he can at this point in his career, and that was part of the reason the Spurs gave up on him.

That being said, the Spurs didn’t have players like Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum to draw attention away from him. They should help to generate open shots for White, and, hopefully, he will shake off his recent shooting woes and return to the knockdown shooter that he once was. If that’s the case, then White’s value to the team would dramatically increase and he’d give the Celtics yet another weapon who could put the ball in the basket in a number of ways.