Breaking🔉:Boston Signs Key Finals Starter to Massive Contract Extension!!
The Boston Celtics have not wasted any time securing their starting lineup and a few key backups for the long run after winning their historic 18th NBA championship last month.
Derrick White, a two-time All-Defensive Team starting guard, just signed a four-year, $125.9 million contract extension with the Celtics, which includes a player option, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. According to Wojnarowski, one of the top priorities this summer was to keep White on the roster for a long time.
Jump-shooting deep-bench center Luke Kornet signed a new one-year contract with the organization on Sunday, most likely for a veteran’s minimum of $2.8 million, according to Wojnarowski. The team had to find frontcourt depth behind 38-year-old primary backup big Al Horford after it was announced that starting center Kristaps Porzingis would be out for five to six months due to a torn retinaculum and a dislocated posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg.
Before the Celtics’ eventual championship season began last summer, the team’s other starters, Jaylen Brown, the MVP of the Finals, and Porzingis signed long-term contracts to remain with the team. Horford has a deal through the upcoming campaign.
Since joining Boston via a trade with the San Antonio Spurs during the end of the 2021–22 NBA season, White has become a fringe All-Star candidate. With this core, he helped lead the Celtics to their first Finals appearance after his acquisition, but he improved.
Along with Holiday, he was selected to the All-Defensive Second Team for the second straight season, and he placed ninth in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. White averaged 15.2 points (his second-best scoring total ever) on a.461/.396/.901 slash line, 5.2 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and one steal per game over 73 regular season games.
