Celtics Guard Derrick White Reveals His Basketball Joy Was Taken Earlier This Season

The Boston Celtics have been one of the best teams in the NBA this season as they look to repeat as champions. But everything hasn't been easy for them this year.

Guard Derrick White opened up about some struggles that he had been dealing with earlier in the season. White said that his joy had been taken and that he was no longer enjoying basketball as much as he used to.

“I don’t know, I would just go into the arena and I just didn’t have the same amount of joy and my energy kind of affected it,” White said at practice on Saturday. “I think that’s just when I’m at my best, when I’m having fun, my energy is high, and I’m just doing a lot of different things.”

“So, I think during that time when I wasn’t playing well, it just all combined into the reason why I probably wasn’t playing really well. So, just trying to come back, be excited and just do what I do best.”

This came as quite a shock because White is normally one of the more energetic and fun players on the team. But even people like this can struggle at different times.

White said that he was in the midst of a slump earlier in the year and it really affected things within basketball for him. During the Celtics mini-slump earlier this year, White averaged 13.9 points and shot 40.9 percent from the field.

Both of these were well below his normal averages and it seemed to bother him. White even opened up about his issues in late December after a loss to the Indiana Pacers.

“I think this might be the toughest stretch that I’ve been on since I’ve been here with the Celtics,” he said.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla weighed in on the news, giving White his props.

“I think as you become a better player, which he’s done since he’s gotten here and with the success that he’s had, the expectations rise,” Mazzulla said. “When the expectations rise, it’s easy for the joy to be robbed. That’s just kind of the natural ebbs and flows of a career and I think there are moments where you have to fight for that.”

The veteran guard is one of the more crucial pieces to the Celtics puzzle, giving them a legitimate option off the bench. White has thrived since joining the Celtics so this news came as a surprise to everyone.

White has since felt better about everything and is now back to being himself. His production on court is important but the Celtics rallied around him and showed great team chemistry in the process.

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