Why Derrick White believes being a two way player for Boston Celtics is so important

His atypical slump to end the 2025-26 NBA season aside, Boston Celtics point guard Derrick White has made a name for himself as a potential threat to impact games on both ends of the court. So much so, in fact, that Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson once called the University of Colorado Boulder alum one of the five best players in the NBA.

And White takes pride in his two way excellence, which he spoke about on a recent episode of the “Run it Back” podcast. “That’s kind of how I got my foot in the door,” explained White.

“That’s how (legendary San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich) started believing in me and trusting me,” he added.

“(It) was on the defensive end and, I had to keep that my whole rest of my career,” said White. “We talk about defense all the time and if you want to play, you’ve got to be able to guard on both sides and I think we’ve got a lot of guys that are two-way players and compete on both sides of the ball.

“So, going out there flying around, try to get steals, block some shots, make it tough on the on the offense and there’s so many great players, so many great schemes out there, it’s difficult but, it’s what is needed to win games.”

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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Why Derrick White believes being a two way player for Celtics is so important