White of the Boston Celtics was left off of ESPN’s Top 100 list for the 2023–2024 NBA season. That offended Celtics supporters, who think White deserves considerably more recognition for what he does. Many others expressed their dismay at White not making the cut on their X accounts.
One fan wrote, “Derrick White wasn’t voted as a top 100 player in the ESPN voting… I just… what,” via their X account. Another directly condemned ESPN, writing, “ESPN leaving Derrick White out of the top 100 players is just disgusting to me,” via their X account. Another mocked the list for having former Celtic Grant Williams, now with the Dallas Mavericks, on the list instead of White, writing, “Grant Williams made the top 100 list but Derrick White didn’t??” via their X account with a GIF of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker laughing.
According to Dan Greenberg of Barstool Sports, White’s rejection will only benefit the Celtics since it will give him a reason to prove himself.
ESPN leaving Derrick White completely out of their Top 100 might be the best thing to happen this entire offseason
We already had a leap on the horizon due to his evolution into Bald Derrick, now we get Bald Disrespected Derrick pic.twitter.com/Fp3wVCB27q
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) October 10, 2023
“ESPN leaving Derrick White completely out of their Top 100 might be the best thing to happen this entire offseason,” Greenberg wrote via his X account. “We already had a leap on the horizon due to his evolution into Bald Derrick, now we get Bald Disrespected Derrick.”
The last admirer was correct. Why did White not make the cut but Williams, who was in and out of Joe Mazzulla’s rotation but never had a problem doing so?
The ‘Single Most Glaring Omission’ according to ESPN is Derrick White
ESPN’s Kevin Pelton seems to be aware that leaving White off their list will draw attention from their readers. Pelton argued that White had a strong argument for being among the top 50 players, in addition to outlining why he was so crucial to the Celtics.
“The single most glaring omission from the top 100, White had a case as the most important player on last season’s Celtics outside of stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. With White on the court, Boston outscored opponents by 11 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA Advanced Stats, which dropped to 1.3 without him. While White did benefit from weaker opponent shooting on 3s in his minutes, he also played a key role in that differential with his career-high 38% 3-point shooting and secondary playmaking on a team badly in need of it. There’s a better case for White as one of the NBA’s top 50 players than outside the top 100,” Pelton wrote.
It would be difficult for ESPN to overlook White once again if the Celtics embark on another lengthy run during which he contributes to their success.
