Derrick White has elevated himself into one of the NBA’s best defenders since joining the Boston Celtics four years ago (has it really been that long?!). So much so that the fact that Boston has remained one of the best defenses despite losing all the personnel they did (including his backcourt partner, Jrue Holiday), and it’s fair to say White deserves a lot of credit for that.

He recently just did by The Ringer’s Michael Pina while discussing who should win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award.. However, while White’s efforts have been all well and good, Pina makes it clear that the only reason he won’t win is because of one reason: Victor Wembanyama.

Pina summarized the problem as a whole when ranking his three top candidates for DPOY, where Wemby was one and White was two.

“The gap between Wemby and the field on defense is more or less what Curry enjoyed as a 3-point shooter 10 years ago. Every strategic decision is manipulated by his authority. Enjoy trying to score on that for the next decade!” Pina wrote.

He then went into more detail as to why he ranks White so highly, most notably that “White is the smartest off-ball defender in the NBA,” “The only player who has a more positive impact on his team’s defense is Wembanyama,” “Boston’s defense miraculously allows the fewest paint points per game. White is the biggest reason,” and “he impacts the game so much more than anyone who spends most of their time on the ball.”

Even so, Wembanyama got the pick, and there really isn’t much to elaborate on because it would be the shock of the century if he doesn’t win. He is such an intimidating presence defensively that Boston will likely always play five-out every single minute he’s on the floor just to get him out of the paint.

That’s not White’s fault. There’s just not much he can do save growing a foot both height and wingspan-wise.

The biggest irony in all of this

White won’t win DPOY primarily because of Wembanyama (also, the league doesn’t typically award it to guards), which is ironic, since it was the Spurs who sent White to the Celtics, putting them in the right position to get their hands on the alien in the first place.

Trading White to Boston was the first signal that San Antonio was starting over. That move made them a bad enough team to get Wemby, while also making Boston good enough to win a title. It’s fair to say that both teams are pretty happy with how everything panned out afterward.

So, when you boil it down, one could say the White trade was a win-win for all sides in the end, even though he won’t win an award he made a fantastic case for.