Despite their dominating run in the playoffs, the Celtics have heard plenty of discourse and narratives surrounding their chances of actually winning the NBA title.

That narrative took a rather unique turn on Thursday when New York Knicks forward Josh Hart sparked an unusual debate about Derrick White “being a more impactful player” than Jayson Tatum.

“But I might put … just like impactful, I might put Derrick White more impactful than Jayson Tatum,” Hart said on the “Pivot Podcast.”

“Look at every main play in the last six minutes of the fourth (quarter) to overtime. Every big play (White) made. He’s probably one of the most impactful players because he does just everything on the court and does everything at a very high level.”

If there’s one player in the league who should be able to speak about being impactful, it certainly is Hart since he was a huge piece of why the Knicks had the season they had.

But why does Tatum constantly get “over-scrutinized” when he is averaging 26 points, 10 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game in the playoffs? In comparison, White is averaging 17.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists in the Celtics 14 postseason games.

Mike Greenberg said on ESPN’s “Get Up” that “it feels as though there’s a debate to diminish Jayson Tatum.”

Hart apparently took offense and clapped back on social media.

“Yall realize saying something is more impactful isn’t belittling the other guy right? Leave me out this “desire to belittle Jayson Tatum” narrative,” Hart wrote on X.

He wants to be left out of the conversation when he was the one that put a moth to the flame.

Maybe if he had said, “Derrick White is an impactful player for the Celtics” and left Tatum out of the conversation, he wouldn’t have gotten so much flack across the sports world.

One thing Hart is right about is the belittling narrative surrounding Tatum right now.

NBA analyst Bill Simmons recently said on his podcast that the negativity surrounding Tatum is being felt by the brass at Boston.

“I know from a Celtics organization, all the way up standpoint, they’re really frustrated with the Tatum coverage,” he said on the The Bill Simmons Podcast.

“From the sense that he’s 26 years old, he’s scored more playoff points than any player in their first years ever, he’s made three first-team All-NBA [teams]. He made All-NBA this year.”

Criticism of Tatum is never far away, but it seems as though the Celtics guard will need to win a ring this series to truly silence the haters.