Jaylen Brown Ripped by NBA Player, Celtics Teammate Praised as 'Biggest Reason' For Team's Success

Despite Jaylen Brown declaring this the favorite season of his career, at least one of his peers in the NBA didn't view him as the primary reason for the Boston Celtics' success in 2025-26.

In an anonymous survey of the most underrated and overrated players conducted by The Athletic, Derrick White finished tied atop the underrated list with one player citing him as the "biggest reason" the Celtics were the No. 2 seed in the East.

"Everyone is trying to say Jaylen Brown is an MVP candidate. They're wrong," the player said. "White has actually been the biggest reason they're so good this season. He does everything — offense, defense, leadership — for them."

Expectations for the Celtics coming into the season were fairly modest given that Jayson Tatum was still recovering from a torn Achilles and they traded away Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday last summer.

The Celtics wound up winning 56 games during the regular season. Tatum returned to play 16 games late in the season to provide a boost, but this group was led by Brown and White for the majority of the year.

Brown is almost certainly going to make the All-NBA team, possibly as a first-team selection for the first time in his career. He averaged career-highs in scoring (28.7 points per game), rebounds (6.9) and assists (5.1) in 71 starts.

White's offense took a step back this season compared to his first four years in Boston. He did average a career-high 16.5 points per game, but his 39.4 field-goal percentage and 32.7 three-point percentage were the lowest of his career.

One way that White remained a high-level contributor was on defense. He finished sixth in Defensive Player of the Year voting, his fourth consecutive season in the top 10 for the award.

The Celtics led the NBA in points allowed per game and ranked fourth in defensive rating.

It has become a hallmark from this era of Celtics basketball to figure out who to attribute their success to. There was the great debate during the 2024 NBA Finals about who should have won MVP of the series against the Dallas Mavericks that ultimately went to Brown over Tatum.

Now, even though Brown is probably going to finish in the top five of MVP voting for his performance this season, at least one player in the league views White as the most important player on Boston's roster.

Their first-round playoff loss to the Philadelphia 76ers without Tatum in the deciding Game 7 doesn't do anything to help the pro-Brown or pro-White argument because they both played poorly in that contest. They did combine for 59 of the team's 100 points, but it came on 21-of-53 shooting from the field.

Ultimately, the Celtics won 56 regular-season games when they weren't initially viewed as a serious contender in the East. Brown and White both deserve a lot of credit for getting them to that level.