Brad Stevens Reveals When He First Realized Payton Pritchard Was Special

Payton Pritchard has been a special find for the Boston Celtics.

The C’s drafted the 23-year-old with the 26th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. It was their second pick of the night, too, with Aaron Nesmith going first at No. 14.

Pritchard has dazzled players, coaches and fans since making his NBA debut in December. His on-court impact was capitalized Thursday night during the Celtics’ win over the Toronto Raptors at TD Garden.

Pritchard put up 20 points on a career-high six 3-pointers. He and Semi Ojeleye made franchise history as the only two teammates to put up six 3-pointers each in a single game.

So, when did Brad Stevens first realize Pritchard has this kind of talent?

“I mean, (the) second or third day he was here before training camp started, those guys came a couple days after the draft,” Stevens told reporters during his postgame video press conference, as seen on NBC Sports Boston. “And after some testing, (we) were able to do small group work. And you could tell he was pretty advanced.”

It should be fun to see where Pritchard’s career takes him.