Payton Pritchard’s Hot Streak Raising Bar As Unofficial Celtics Sixth Man

It was all about earning trust last season for Payton Pritchard, who after logging a career-low in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, field goal percentage and 3-point percentage, signed a four-year, $30 million contract extension with the Boston Celtics.

The 26-year-old rose to the occasion in a multitude of ways when called upon by head coach Joe Mazzulla. Pritchard led the Celtics with a 4.6 assist-to-turnover ratio, averaged a career-best 9.6 points, sunk a memorable 49-foot half-court heave in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and became a champion a year after considering bidding Boston farewell. Instead, Pritchard discovered how much could change over the course of a year.

Now a reigning champ, Pritchard isn’t getting hungover in the champagne, confetti rainstorm, parade or the 15-carat championship ring. Pritchard’s undergone the mountain climb in becoming entrusted, who isn’t just the most effective reserve unit leader in Boston, but one of the most effective off-the-bench weapons in the NBA today. Just eight games into the season, a handful of teams have endured the Pritchard experience.

“So much to say (about Pritchard),” Charlotte Hornets head coach Charles Lee said last Friday, per CLNS Media. “… I think that he’s done a really good job of playing off the ball, embracing, hunting threes off the dribble, catch and shoot. I think that he’s a underrated defender. He will pick you up full court. He’s very physical, he’s feisty, he’s competitive. He just brings so much to their team and I think that he’s helped them.”

Pritchard’s commitment to striving for greater heights began in the offseason. Again, coming off a championship, historically, hasn’t cautioned players to shatter their ceilings — especially after being paid. The 6-foot-1 guard highlighted being able to “shoot off the dribble at a higher clip” as one of the emphasized areas of improvement this past offseason, and while talk is cheap, shooting 43.2% from three isn’t. Pritchard got started quickly in giving everyone a preview of what his Year 5 self could look like, and it began once the Celtics took off for a two-game trip to Abu Dhabi.

Meeting up with Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets, Pritchard stood out by unleashing his new-and-improved hot hand. He shot a combined 8-of-15 (53.3%) and scored 35 points in Boston’s back-to-back victories to begin the preseason and didn’t slow down once the team returned to finish its exhibition schedule in the United States. Pritchard made five appearances and finished shooting an impressive 48.8% from beyond the arc, firing away at a noticeably quicker and confident rate.

So far, it’s all translated. Pritchard is the odds-on favorite — at +400 — to win the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, leading Buddy Hield (+700), Malik Monk (+800), Bennedict Mathurin (+900), Naz Reid (+1000) and Tre Mann (+1300). It’s far too early to pencil Pritchard in as a legitimate candidate, however, the numbers are on the Oregon products side. Pritchard is averaging a career-high 16 points, three rebounds and 2.8 assists, shooting 46.7% from the field while knocking down four 3-point attempts through eight appearances.

That’s elite production, and not just relative to Pritchard’s vertical shortcoming. He’s among the most impactful bench players capable of making a difference in critical ways.

Pritchard scored a season-best 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including 8-of-12 from three, in Boston’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks last month. Eight-time All-Star Damian Lillard specifically pointed out Pritchard, revealing Milwaukee discussed its game plan to suppress his scoring threat, moments before the Bucks took the floor. That, of course, didn’t work out and that’s been the constant theme.

In crippling the Bucks — and taking the life out of head coach Doc Rivers — Pritchard became the first player in Celtics history to drain five or more 3-pointers off the bench for three consecutive games. With Lonnie Walker IV in Lithuania, and rumored to be garnering interest elsewhere across the league, Pritchard’s pitching in to keep the depth cast effective enough to keep the title defenders on track.

It wouldn’t take becoming the organization’s first Sixth Man of the Year since Malcolm Brogdon (2022-23) for Pritchard to carve that role, officially or unofficially, but based on his eight-game aggregate, it’s certainly possible.