Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics have gotten off to a strong start to the 2023-24 NBA season. The Celtics currently sit at 8-2, winners of all three games of their recent homestand at TD Garden, and Tatum has enjoyed a great opening act to the campaign, continuing to show improvement in virtually all aspects of his game.

One player who is a bit of an unsung hero for the Celtics is Derrick White, who has made a tremendous impact during his tenure in Boston but was surprisingly left off of a Top 100 NBA Players list compiled by ESPN prior to this season.

Now, Tatum is speaking out about the list and why it doesn't bother White or the Celtics in the slightest.

“It’s a d**n shame they left him off the top 100,” said Tatum, per Jay King of The Athletic. “That’s why I never pay attention to s**t like that.”

To be clear, Derrick White most certainly is one of the one hundred best players in the NBA. Although he might not stuff the stat sheet or have a particular specialty that he is elite at, White is an extremely fundamentally sound basketball player who frequently guards the opposition's best player while filling in the gaps around Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the other members of the star-studded Celtics' starting lineup.

Of course, it was White who kept Boston's season alive with a game-winning tip in buzzer beater against the Miami Heat in Game 6 of last year's NBA Conference Finals, a shot that Celtics fans won't soon forget.