Derrick White reveals Joe Mazzulla’s birthday phone call that predicted Celtics’ success

On July 2nd of last year, Boston Celtics guard Derrick White was celebrating his birthday with a relaxing round of golf. Then Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla called him, but not just to wish him a happy birthday.

During a joint show with “The Old Man and The Three” and White’s own “White Noise Podcast,” the 31-year-old revealed that Mazzulla also rang him to provide some exciting news about the upcoming season, or, at least Mazzulla’s take on what’s “exciting.”

“He’s like, ‘Happy birthday man…Everybody thinks we’re going to suck, I love it,’ and then hangs up,” White recalled with a smirk.

Months ago, Derrick White mentioned a call he received on his birthday from Joe Mazzulla.

He finally revealed what Mazzulla said:

“He’s like, ‘Happy birthday man…Everybody thinks we’re going to suck, I love it,’ and then hangs up.”

“And this is in July.”

@OldManAndThree pic.twitter.com/Aamo9jUtRc

— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) January 29, 2026

Since the Celtics were expected to be without star forward Jayson Tatum for most, if not all, of the 2025-26 season and they already had to trade away starting center Kristaps Porzingis due to financial reasons, the expectations surrounding the Green Team were low.

Mazzulla never bought into these outside opinions, and he told White that way back in July.

“He’s like, ‘I can’t wait for us to get back out here, I think we could be so good,'” White said. “So we’ve had that mindset for a while and now people are starting to notice. It’s just up to us to continue to build and grow.”

How the 2025-26 Celtics proved Joe Mazzulla right

White recounted this story to teammates Luka Garza, Anfernee Simons, and Payton Pritchard, all guys who’ve helped the Celtics shock the NBA world. More than halfway through the regular season, the C’s are 29-18 overall and in third place in the Eastern Conference.

But, just because the Celtics have overachieved doesn’t mean they want to rest on their laurels.

“We just got to go out there and be the hardest playing team, got to be the smartest team,” White stated. “And so everybody kind of has that chip on their shoulder and we came together. And we’re not satisfied with where we’re at right now and we have a standard that we got to live to every day.”

Celtics star Jaylen Brown didn’t think his squad met that standard during their most recent game, which was a 117-106 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night. In fact, he came out and said it directly.

“I don’t think we played to our standard tonight,” Brown admitted in his postgame presser. “I don’t think I played to my standard…it just comes down to us coming out with the right intention, the right energy and navigating the season, and tonight wasn’t the best example of that.”

Jaylen Brown on the Hawks’ great game and why January basketball requires extra effort:

“I’ll give credit to Atlanta, they beat us up and down the floor.”

“You got to dig deep, physically, mentally, and tonight wasn't the best example of that.” pic.twitter.com/y7X9djRwOG

— Daniel Donabedian (@danield1214) January 29, 2026

Boston will look to return to the high standards it set on Friday night against the struggling Sacramento Kings. However, Brown might not be there to contribute, as the Celtics officially listed him as doubtful because of left hamstring tightness and a right knee contusion.

Perhaps White, who Mazzulla motivated all those months ago, will lead the charge if the C’s are even more undermanned than usual. Or, Boston will lean on its depth during a year it wasn’t supposed to have any.

“We do a good job where everybody contributes and adds to winning,” Pritchard said while sitting next to White, Simons, and Garza.

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