With four days until the NBA draft, the Boston Celtics' offseason intrigue has shifted away from Jaylen Brown and onto one of the league's best perimeter defenders. The Minnesota Timberwolves, according to multiple reports out of Friday, have registered serious interest in guard Derrick White.
The Athletic's Sam Amick framed it as a knock-on effect of Minnesota's stalled hunt for Giannis Antetokounmpo. "Similarly, league sources say the Minnesota Timberwolves — whose Antetokounmpo pursuit also appears to have cooled — have strong interest in the Celtics' Derrick White," Amick wrote.
The logic is straightforward. Minnesota was bounced in the second round of the 2026 playoffs by the San Antonio Spurs, and the front office is motivated to add to the core around Anthony Edwards. White, a three-time All-Defensive selection who made the First Team this past season, fits the brief as a two-way backcourt complement.
White will turn 32 on July 2 and is under contract through 2028, with a player option worth $34.8 million for the 2028-29 season. He is owed roughly $30.3 million next season. The Dallas Hoops Journal reported that Minnesota's interest extends beyond White, with the Wolves also exploring a move for Chicago Bulls playmaker Josh Giddey, who carries a $25 million salary. Neither player has a no-trade clause.
There is a clear caveat: a down shooting year. White posted a career-low 39.4 percent from the field and 32.7 percent from three, and his slump deepened in the playoffs, where he averaged 11.1 points on 32.1 percent shooting in Boston's seven-game first-round loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. For his Celtics career he has averaged 14.7 points, 4.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds, and he was a central figure in the franchise's 2024 championship run.
Bleacher Report argued the defense alone justifies Minnesota's curiosity, noting White could give the Wolves real depth alongside Ayo Dosunmu as they try to climb into the Western Conference's top tier currently held by the Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. The expectation among analysts is that White's offense bounces back.
Not everyone sees a clean deal. Writers at Dunking with Wolves cautioned that the price would be steep and that any package good enough to pry White loose could force Minnesota to part with Jaden McDaniels — a non-starter for a team built on wing defense. They floated the idea that a framework built around Naz Reid and draft capital might be more palatable, while questioning whether Boston would even move a starting guard it values.
For now, the Celtics have given no public indication they intend to trade White, whom they acquired from San Antonio in 2022. With the draft on June 23, the rumor mill is only going to spin faster — and Minnesota appears determined to be in the middle of it.
