Spurs’ White agrees to $73 million contract extension.
Last week, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich deemed Derrick White an indisputable part of the team’s future plans.
The club put its money where Popovich’s mouth was Monday.
With hours to spare before an 11 p.m. waiver deadline, White agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $73 million that will keep him under Spurs’ control through his 30th birthday.
“I was excited to get drafted here and be part of this organization,” White said in a video posted to the team’s social media accounts. “It’s nice to have that level of comfort. … I’m really excited about staying here.”
The move cements White — the 29th overall pick in the 2017 draft — as a key piece of the Spurs’ rebuilding effort moving forward.
It marked the second consecutive offseason the Spurs inked a a player with three years of service to a long-term extension. In October 2019, Dejounte Murray signed a fouryear, $64-million pact.
The Spurs have pegged the 26-year-old White as part of a young foundation that includes Murray, Lonnie Walker IV, Keldon Johnson, Jakob Poeltl and Devin Vassell, the 11th overall pick in last month’s draft.
“I’m excited with the direction we’re going,” White said. “I’m excited to keep getting better and improving and getting back to where the Spurs should be. I’m excited to be here for that process.”
White averaged a careerbest 11.3 points last season, emerging as a catalyst of the Spurs’ success during an eightgame run in the Orlando, Fla., bubble.
He appeared in seven of those contests, averaging 18.9 points, shooting 39 percent from 3-point range and anchoring the team’s perimeter defense.
During the full season,
White ranked second among all NBA guards in total blocks (59) and charges drawn (30).
“He has just gotten better and better, and a lot of it has been confidence, trying to convince him that he belongs,” Popovich said before a preseason game in Houston last week. “He has really developed well. So he is somebody that we plan on for the future.”
Having undergone surgery on the second toe of his left foot in August, White has been unable to participate in practice since training camp began this month. He is not expected to be available for the Spurs’ regular-season opener Wednesday in Memphis.
Had the Spurs not come to terms with White before Monday’s deadline, it would have cast him into restricted free agency next summer.
With up to half the teams in the NBA expected to have significant salary cap room next offseason, White would have had multiple suitors had he been allowed to hit the free-agent marketplace.
His extension will cut into the Spurs’ own cap space for next summer, which until Monday would have projected at $64 million, the most in the league.
The move is likely to be a popular one in the Spurs’ locker room, where White has emerged as one of the team’s more popular players.
“Of course, I would like to see him stick around,” Poeltl, the team’s 25-yearold center, said Sunday.
“Not only on the court, but also off the court. He’s probably one of my best friends on the team. I would love to see Derrick sign an extension.”
Thanks to Monday’s news, the Spurs, White and his teammates all got their wish.
“I’m just going to keep working,” White said. “Nothing is going to stop that aspect from me. I’m going to keep grinding, keep trying to be the best player I can be.”