NBA Insider Predicts Celtics’ Derrick White to Make First All-Star in 2025-26 Season
The Celtics’ Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles during the 2025 playoffs. It’s an unfortunate injury for the All-Pro power forward. He will miss most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season.
Knowing Tatum is out, Boston will turn to Jaylen Brown and Derrick White to lead the way. Since being traded to the Celtics, White has taken his game to another level. One NBA insider predicts Derrick White will have the best season of his career in 2025-26. Jay King of The Athletic believes White will be named an All-Star for the first time in the upcoming regular season.
Derrick White will have a bigger role in Boston in 2025-26
Derrick White’s All-Star Season Loaded pic.twitter.com/nSsc4XP8nZ
— Ian Inangelo (@iinangelo) October 19, 2025
Before the deadline of the 2021-22 season, the Spurs traded Derrick White to the Boston Celtics. White spent the first five and a half seasons of his career with the Spurs. He played 237 games for the Spurs, starting 155 of them. Derrick White has been a member of the Celtics for the past four seasons. White has been a key role player for Boston. He is one of the top defensive players in the NBA. The 31-year-old has finished in the top 10 in Defensive Player of the Year voting each of the past two seasons.
During the 2024-25 season, Derrick White appeared in 82 games for Boston and started 76 of them. He averaged career-highs of 16.4 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 4.8 assists per game. He averaged 12.6 shots per game, tying his career high. Jayson Tatum will be out for the 2025-26 season. Derrick White is poised to dominate the campaign.
Derrick White did it all in tonight’s W game 🍀
33 points
9 boards
6 cents
4 taps
6 triples pic.twitter.com/uINysNLjSp— NBA (@NBA) October 16, 2025
Recently, NBA insider Jay King of The Athletic shared his “15 Bold Predictions” for the 2025-26 season. King believes Boston’s Derrick White will make his first All-Star appearance this season. He pointed to White’s 27.8 percent usage rate in the preseason. While preseason numbers don’t always carry over to the regular season, White is expected to be Boston’s leader.
Derrick White is nearly an All-Star in 2024-25. That’s how good he was with the Celtics. However, the Cavaliers had three players selected to the All-Star Game last season. It would be very difficult for both Eastern Conference teams to draft three players each. While Jayson Tatum has missed time, Derrick White is ready to step up and see an increased workload. In three preseason games, he averaged 21.7 points, 7.0 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. If he can perform like this in the regular season, White will be selected to the All-Star Game for the first time.
