Paris Olympics: American team plans to add a third Celtics player

Boston Celtics guard Derrick White is attracting attention from Team USA ahead of the Paris Olympics.

Speaking on the NBA Countdown to Game 4, ESPN Insider Adrian Wojnarowski said White “is shaping up to be a real potential candidate for Team USA in the Summer Olympics if Kawhi Leonard is unable to recover from the knee inflammation that kept him out of the playoffs.

White is currently playing the best basketball of his career, winning at a high level.

Taking what the defense gives him, he scores effectively. By making the right – and sometimes simple – pass, he has been a good playmaker. He is one of the best perimeter defenders and has the gift of blocking shots. On the season, he is averaging 15.2 points, 5.2 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.2 blocks and 1.5 turnovers per game. He is shooting 46.1 percent from the field, 39.6 percent from 3 and 90.1 percent from 3.

Team USA plans to add third Celtics player at Paris Olympics

Ultimately, if USA Basketball wants to replace Leonard with White, it’s not a bad decision.

Yet in their offer for Leonard, it is assumed that they were looking for a player with more size and positional versatility. At this point, White’s blocking average may be particularly impressive given his size, but he doesn’t play much bigger than his size. For reference, White is 6-foot-4 and weighs 190 pounds. Meanwhile, Leonard is 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds, capable of guarding 1-4. If the goal is to replace him specifically, they should look to White’s teammate.

Jaylen Brown snubbed again

Team USA snubbed Jaylen Brown from its initial roster, selecting Devin Booker in his place. Booker is an excellent scorer but far from a reliable defender. Meanwhile, Brown is among the best players in the league. That said, USA Basketball leaving him off the roster again — and saying it’s so White can replace Leonard anyway — is a bad decision.

Building on Brown’s defensive versatility, he is an elite defender capable of guarding 1-4, like Leonard. Not only is he 6-foot-6 and 223 pounds strong and explosive, but he’s technically sound. However, it goes well beyond that.

For starters, Brown was recently named the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals MVP and is the favorite to win the 2024 NBA Finals MVP. In a “what have you done for me lately” league, there has little logic bypassing Brown for any of his teammates. In the playoffs, when the pressure is on and the cream rises to the top, Brown has been their best player. He has a main weakness in attack, which is that he can be streaked from the outside. Over the past three seasons, he has made 34.8 percent of his 3s. Over the previous five seasons, he has made 37.8 percent of his 3s.

That said, if USA Basketball wanted someone who could thrive off the ball, White might be the best option. That would be the only reason why his pick instead of Brown would make sense, although it would ignore that White had a career 3-point percentage of .344 before last season.

Finally, it’s possible that one of Team USA’s top scorers will go down. In this case, having Brown available is undeniably more beneficial than White. For all that White is, he’s still not a reliable scorer. The Celtics don’t routinely ask him to lead them to the finish line with volume scoring. However, they ask this of Brown.

That said, imagine if White took over offensively for LeBron James or Kevin Durant? Would he have as much success as Brown dribbling, from mid-range or around the rim? At this point, 3-point shots aren’t the way to go for the vast majority of the NBA’s No. 1 options, especially if their opponent plans to limit those attempts.

Ultimately, there are several reasons to choose White as Leonard’s injury replacement, but Brown checks more boxes.