Luke Kornet said he still checks in with a group of former Boston teammates but that Derrick White has been quiet since their last meeting, calling it "radio silence" in an interview published on 6/10/2026. "Yeah, I heard from guys, I've been in touch with them. There's a group of us that are still like kind of texting throughout the year and whatever," Kornet told HoopsHype, then added bluntly: "As for Derrick, there's been radio silence."
The comment matters because Kornet did not frame the silence as a passing lapse but as part of something sharper — a lingering grievance after what he called a hostile act in their most recent game. "You know the type of guy he is where he's one to foster and hold a grudge, so you kind of want to let that kind of just simmer and then give it the space," Kornet said, and he noted the awkward reality: the teams meet just "twice a year."
Those twice-yearly matchups turn interpersonal noise into on-court theater. Kornet revisited the moment without describing it in detail: "And unfortunately you have to play them twice a year, so you see them then, but I mean, there's a hostile act that happened when we played them last, so I don't know if we're exactly on speaking terms." The lack of specifics leaves the incident itself — what happened, who initiated it, whether it drew a flag or a fine — unreported and unresolved.
That gap in the record is the story's hinge. Publicly, White offered a warmer line days earlier; on 6/3/2026 White said he would be happy to see old friends in San Antonio win the NBA Finals. Kornet's account of silence and of a grudge complicates that surface friendliness, and it underlines how private dynamics among former teammates can outlast trades and moves.
Context beyond the personal: national NBA coverage has framed the Celtics' core — Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White — as a championship trio whose contracts and lengths limit short-term roster change. On 6/8/2026 Brian Windhorst told national radio, "I'm going to tell you I have not actually heard any material, true discussions." He added, "I am certain maybe someone has called on Jaylen Brown maybe, but I have not heard one iota of Jaylen Brown truly being available or Derrick White being available," and warned that Boston needs more trusted rotation players, especially at the big man positions, after the summer.
The friction in Kornet's account matters because it is personal, public and unresolved. Kornet remains attached to a Boston-era group text while White, by Kornet's description, has withdrawn. The public friendliness White expressed earlier this month sits uneasily next to Kornet's description of a simmering grudge and explicit noncommunication.
What the reader should watch next is straightforward: the next time the teams meet. Kornet and White cross paths only twice a season; those scheduled game nights are now the clearest moments left for contact or correction. Kornet has signaled he will keep his channels open with other former Celtics. Whether White responds in kind, or whether the silence holds when they stand across the floor from one another, remains the single unanswered point that will tell us more than either man has said so far.
For background on Kornet's season in San Antonio and the role he has played for the Spurs, see recent FilmoGaz coverage, including "Kornet Spurs: Wembanyama’s 41-Point, 24-Rebound Game That Shifted the Western Final" and "Luke Kornet Prays with Salesian Sisters as Spurs Rout Thunder 103-82 in Game 4."
