Derrick White becomes second Celtics player to win NBA award

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Derrick White becomes second Celtics player to win NBA award

Brian Robb · MassLive

Fri, Apr 24, 2026 ·

2 min read

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Derrick White became the second straight member of the Celtics to win the NBA Sportsmanship Award, the league announced Thursday.

The NBA Sportsmanship Award was created during the 1995-96 season and honors the player who “best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court.” The trophy for the award is named after Pistons guard Joe Dumars who won the inaugural Sportsmanship Award in 1996.

NBA players voted on the award which featured a close race among White, Pacers guard TJ McConnell , Spurs forward Harrison Barnes and former Celtics big man Al Horford .

McConnell actually topped White in first place votes but White still amassed 2,826 total points which topped McConnell (2,566) with Barnes and Horford following closely behind. Horford also received 19 percent of the first place votes.

Former Celtics guard Jrue Holiday became the first player in Boston to win the award last season. Each team nominates a player from their roster to be eligible for the award before six finalists are picked, one from each division.

The Celtics will have one more chance to take home an NBA award next week when the NBA Coach of the Year award is announced. Joe Mazzulla was named as one of the finalists last week.

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