Derrick White acknowledged that his shooting struggles during the 2025-26 season became increasingly difficult to manage after a slow start, with the Boston Celtics guard saying he began changing parts of his shot that did not necessarily need to be adjusted.
“I think I started off slow, and then it kind of messes your mind. You start tweaking some things that you probably shouldn’t need to tweak, and then it kind of just snowballs into what I had,” White said, per John Karalis of Sports Illustrated.
White entered the 2025-26 season coming off consecutive years in which he had established himself as one of Boston’s most reliable perimeter shooters. He shot 39.6% from three-point range in 2023-24 and 38.4% in 2024-25, while averaging 15.2 and 16.4 points, respectively.
His shooting efficiency fell sharply last season. White averaged 16.5 points, 5.4 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 77 games while playing a career-high 34.1 minutes per game, but shot only 39.4% from the field and 32.7% from three-point range.
The three-point decline was particularly significant because White attempted 8.3 threes per game, giving him one of the largest perimeter workloads of his career. He made 2.7 threes per game, compared with 3.5 per game the previous season despite attempting nearly the same number of shots from beyond the arc.
White’s overall offensive production remained relatively stable because he compensated in other areas. He posted career-best averages in assists and rebounds while shooting 90.2% from the free-throw line, but his effective field-goal percentage dropped from .580 in 2024-25 to .489 last season.
The shooting issues also came during another demanding season for Boston. White started all 77 games and remained a major part of the Celtics’ rotation, while the team finished 56-26 and won the Atlantic Division. Boston’s season ended in the first round of the playoffs after the Celtics surrendered a 3-1 series lead to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Despite the offensive struggles, White remained one of the NBA’s premier defensive guards. He finished sixth in Defensive Player of the Year voting and was selected to the All-Defensive First Team for the first time.
White now enters the 2026-27 season alongside a reshaped Celtics roster following the trade of Jaylen Brown for Paul George. With Boston replacing some of Brown’s scoring and creation while continuing to rely heavily on White, a return toward his previous three-point efficiency would provide an important boost.
