Derrick White Recounts Comical Way Gregg Popovich Broke News of His Trade to Celtics

It could have been worse.

Before Derrick White was playing championship minutes with the Celtics, he was just a young guard finding his place in the league with the Spurs. / Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

Derrick White is the latest NBA player to jump into the podcast game. The 31-year-old veteran launched his new show White Noise this week, giving basketball fans yet another peak inside the life of an NBA player.

White wasted no time in sharing some of his best stories from his years in the league, recalling the time he got traded from the San Antonio Spurs to the Boston Celtics. As he recounted in the story, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich broke the news like a champ.

“We’re in Atlanta,” White said. “Pop walks in the room and he’s like ‘Hey, uh, we traded you,’ and doesn’t say anything.

“I’m like ‘to where?’ And he was like, ‘We wouldn’t f--- you, we sent you to Boston.’”

White did his best from there to play casual, but did wind up getting a bottle to drink as he contemplated his NBA future, and joked that he was a bit hungover while meeting his new teammates in Boston.

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While getting traded is never easy, Pop’s words would prove prophetic, as White would go on to be a key part of the Celtics championship run in 2024.

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