One of the most famous sports quotes of all time, coming from the man who many consider to be the GOAT, encapsulates everything that has been Derrick White's journey to the NBA. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” It's pretty easy to figure out what Michael Jordan is saying here. No matter what the obstacle might be, you must constantly push through it, letting nothing stop you on the way toward your ultimate goals.
I've written a lot about player's struggling through trials and tribulations during their basketball careers on this site. Chloe Jackson's long road to becoming Baylor's national champion, senior leader and Rui Hachimora's journey from unknown Japanese kid who idolized Ichiro Suzuki and struggled to learn English, to Gonzaga's leader throughout their season. Both had their own struggles in their own unique ways. There are many stories just like those two that exist in our everyday sports lives, yet we don’t get to hear about too many of them because the players end up never getting the recognition they deserve.
Thankfully, in my experience, it’s the brightest lights that build the best stars. Obviously, we’re talking about the NBA playoffs in this instance. And coming from someone who isn’t necessarily a Spurs fan, watching Derrick White break out for 36 points and a plus/minus of plus 30 in game three of the first round against the Denver Nuggets was the first time I had heard of this player. However, the more I looked into this backstory, the more I knew I had to share it here on the Athlete, because his story is exactly like the ones we want to give more publicity to.
Coming out of high school, there wasn’t a single D1 or D2 school that offered Derrick a scholarship to come play basketball. It was actually Johnson & Wales in Denver, a NAIA school who is known nationally for their culinary program, that was willing to give him a chance. The coach at the school moved to the D2 school Colorado-Colorado Springs during the summer of the year after White’s senior year, and he made sure that White came with him, by offering a stipend to come and play for the Mountain lions.
From the moment White began playing for the Mountain Lions, it was obvious the difference he was going to make for the team. Every single game he played in for Colorado-Colorado springs he started. In his first season as a freshman, in which he played 24 games for the Lions, he had over 17ppg, 4rpg, and shot over 35% from three. Those totals would explode to over 25ppg, 7rpg, 5apg, while also making a huge impact on the defensive end with 2spg and 2bpg during this junior year. Every single facet of the game he was able to impact during that year, he did. His junior year was also one of the best the Mountain Lions had ever seen, which also served to open up new opportunities for him to continue his basketball career.
Being in such close proximity to a D1 school, the University of Colorado, was a stroke of luck for both the Buffs and for White. Colorado, at the time, was searching for a strong minded point guard that could lead them in a stacked Pac-12, and White was looking for somewhere that would possibly give him an opportunity to play at the highest level, the NBA. It was a match made in heaven, and after his junior season at Colorado-Colorado Springs, White transferred to the University of Colorado. Per NCAA transfer rules, he would have to sit out his senior season, but the moment he could touch the court again, White would go back to making the same huge impacts he did for the Mountain Lions.
One of the things that stood out the most for Derrick was his ability to impact every single facet of the game. During his season with the Buffs, he averaged 18ppg, 4rpg, 4asp, and just over a steal and a block per game each. This all around ability to impact a game was shown to the fullest extent against Stanford on February 2, 2017, where he had 19 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals. He also showed the ability to fill up the scoring sheet, when he had a game of 35 points against the Arizona State Sundevils on the road. That amount of points on the road was the 7th most for a Colorado player in their program history. His brilliance extended to the postseason, with exclamation point games such as a 31 points against Arizona in the Pac-12 Tournament and 30 point game against the UCF Knights in the NIT tournament. The accolades from this season reflected the impact White had on the Buffs, being named an All-Pac-12 player, Pac-12 All-Tournament, and to the Pac-12 All-Defense team. The defensive team nomination came from his 49 blocks setting a record for a guard in school history. This incredible season, seemingly coming out of no where for a player that had 0 D1 or D2 offers coming out of high school, was enough to earn him a place at the NBA combine. He was one of 15 players who were not ranked in the top 150 high school prospects after his senior year to receive an invite.
The Spurs, who have been known to find diamonds in the rough time and time again, polishing them into franchise cornerstones, were the ones to take a chance on Derrick late in the first round. With the 29th pick, White was taken by the team that had turned guys like Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker into household names. Looking back at that decision, there wasn’t an NBA home that better suited the player who had come from an absolute nobody to bonified all around star.
It’s taken injuries to other players on the team to get him the opportunity to lead the Spurs, but now that White has taken the reigns of the point guard duties for the spurs this season, it’s obvious he’s not letting go any time soon. Tonight, he takes on the Nuggets in a pivotal game 5 that could determine who goes on to win this series. For a guy who nobody knew coming out of high school, to being in this position, Derrick White has had quite the ride. And I can’t wait to see where it goes next.
Cover image source:
Eric Gay: AP
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