How Derrick White can win 2022 NBA Finals MVP

Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals will take place Thursday, June 2 from San Francisco. It’ll be the Golden State Warriors hosting the Boston Celtics to start the series, with tipoff set for 9:00 p.m. ET. Golden State has homecourt advantage in the series and makes its sixth Finals trip in eight seasons. Boston is making its first trip to the Finals since 2010.

We’re going over some of the prominent players on both sides of this series and highlighting their impact on the matchup. Here’s a look at Celtics guard Derrick White.

Derrick White overview

Postseason stats: 8.1 ppg, 2.8 apg, 3.6 rpg, 38.0 FG%, 27.6 3P%, 78.4 FT%

The numbers aren’t great, but White has stepped up of late for Boston. He’s established himself as the primary backup point guard, and is even getting some minutes with Marcus Smart on the floor. White is doing a little bit of everything for the Celtics, and his shot is starting to come around. He hit 42.0 percent of his shots in the conference finals, including shooting 53.3 percent over the last three games.

Odds entering NBA Finals (via DraftKings Sportsbook)

Finals MVP: +15000
Scoring leader: N/A
Rebounding leader: N/A
Assists leader: +8000
3PM leader: +10000

How Derrick White can win Finals MVP

Not only would White need to continue shooting the ball well, he’d need to add volume to average between 20 and 25 points per game. The point guard will also need to continue providing contributions on the assist and rebound front, while playing solid defense. White will be a nice part of Boston’s rotation, but he’s unlikely to get enough opportunities to win Finals MVP.