Derrick White Reveals The Offer He Turned Down From Nikola Vucevic For No. 9

The Boston Celtics were counted out by much of the NBA fanbase heading into the 2025/26 season, but unsurprisingly, they've shown their resilience and remain highly competitive in the Eastern Conference this season. Then at the trade deadline, they seemingly went all in on a major upgrade, adding Nikola Vucevic to a team that clearly believes they can make some noise when the NBA Playoffs come around.

That signals that Jayson Tatum's return isn't as farfetched as some potentially believed it to be, and if he can get back to 100%, this is a team that nobody can count out. Now, we've heard a story about the arrival of Vucevic, who famously wears No. 9, the same as Celtics star Derrick White, who has become critical to this team and their success. 

Unsurprisingly, he wanted to continue wearing that number moving forward, offering White a massive sum of $5 million to make it happen, but now, White has revealed why he turned that down.

“Nine is my favorite number… when I see people wearing it in The Garden and it’s a Nike jersey, I’m like, ‘Oh I know that’s mine.’”

To make that offer, clearly the number means plenty to Vucevic as well, but now he's turned to the No. 4 for the Celtics, and with these two alongside Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard and potentially Tatum, this is a team to keep a very close eye on for the remainder of the 2025/26 season.