Derrick White Deserves More Consideration For This Award Than Odds Suggest
It's tempting at 50-1
Derrick White deserves some sort of an award if he can keep up this level of production for the Celtics all season.
The question, though, is which one?
The Boston guard has been an invaluable contributor this season for the NBA's best team. White has started all 30 games in which he played and enters Friday night's matchup with Utah averaging 17 points, four rebounds, five assists and a block per game.
Just to be able to crack the starting five for a team as talented as the Celtics is a testament to his game. The 2017 first-round pick is having easily the best season of his seven-year career. His field-goal percentage (.494) is up 30 points over last season. The 17 points per game is a 5-point increase over last season. His rebounds are up. His 3-point shooting is way up.
Granted, those per-game increases correspond with White playing a season-high 32 minutes per night. That increased workload is deserved, though, and it's an indication of his valuable to a team that is simply loaded.
Just prior to Christmas, White became the first player in NBA history to have at least six 3-pointers and three blocks in consecutive games. As play-by-play voice Drew Carter pointed out, he's was playing at a Larry Bird level, at that point pacing to join Bird as the only player in team history to average 16 points, five assists, four rebounds, one block and one steal per game.
It's kind of hard to ignore that sort of improvement ? no? One might even argue he's the NBA's most improved player, yes?
A quick look at the NBA betting betting board seems to suggest bettors and oddsmakers are at least considering it. DraftKings Sportsbook currently has White just outside the top favorites as a 50-1 relative long shot.
Most Improved Player Award odds (DraftKings Sportsbook)
Tyrese Maxey (-270)
Alperen Sengun (+500)
Scottie Barnes (+1400)
Tyrese Haliburton (+1400)
Cody White (+1600)
Derrick White (+5000)
Franz Wagner (+5000)
Maxey looks like a runaway. He is blossoming into a legitimate superstar this season and gives the 76ers a lethal 1-2 punch next to Joel Embiid. Still, at 50-1, a pizza money bet on White might be tempting for Celtics fans.
White also feels like a Sixth Man of the Year candidate, but he's not in the running for that award because, you know, he's a starter. In some ways, he's the victim of his own success.
It's kind of fun to note, though, that he is 100-1 to win the NBA's clutch award, ahead of players like James Harden, Pascal Siakam, Anthony Davis, Julius Randle and teammate Jaylen Brown, aka the highest-paid player in the league.
Speaking of being paid handsomely, White's resurgence comes at the perfect time for him. As he knocks on the door of a potential All-Star Game selection, he does so in the penultimate year of his current contract. The two sides were working toward a deal before the season, according to reports, but nothing came of it -- perhaps to White's advantage when it's all said and done.
The ultimate prize for White and the Celtics remains the same, as an NBA title is the No. 1 priority, but it's impossible to deny the guard deserves some sort of recognition for his incredible play.
