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After winning a title with them, Payton Pritchard will be with the Boston Celtics for the long haul. The Celtics extended him before the 2023-24 season started, and it looks like that extension will pay dividends.
Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus believes Pritchard has one of the best NBA contracts, and he explained why in an August 24 story.
“With Boston heavily invested in players like Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, (Jrue) Holiday, and (Derrick) White, Pritchard’s economic deal is extremely valuable. His minutes jumped from 13.4 on average in 2022-23 to 22.3 last season—and his scoring climbed to 9.6 points a game on 38.5 percent shooting from three-point range.
“Pritchard played a regular rotation role through 19 playoff games as the Celtics went on to win the title. He’ll earn just 4.8 percent of this year’s $140.6 million salary cap.”
While he may not have played the biggest role in helping the Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks to win the title, Pritchard definitely had some signature moments during the series.
Pritchard will start a four-year, $30 million contract with the Celtics when the 2024-25 season starts.
Payton Pritchard Previously Wanted Celtics to Trade Him
Pritchard’s role with the Celtics has fluctuated over the years. From 2021 to 2023, he was benched in favor of Dennis Schroder and Malcolm Brogdon in two consecutive seasons. Because his role was not solidified, there was a point in time where he wanted out.
The Athletic’s Jay King and Jared Weiss confirmed this in a June 1, 2023 story.
“With the new onerous CBA rules looming after next season, the front office will likely have to decide in the next 12 months whether it can afford its expensive veteran depth. Payton Pritchard has made it clear he hopes to be traded this summer, according to multiple team sources, so will the Celtics move him if they trade one of their core guards?”
Pritchard got the short end of the stick because the Celtics typically had three guards ahead of him. However, once they traded Brogdon and Marcus Smart, they gave Pritchard a bigger role on the team. For the first time since his rookie season, Pritchard did not receive spot minutes. He played consistently every night.
Payton Pritchard on Celtics’ Chances of Repeating
The Celtics went on a tear when they won the title, winning 16 of 19 playoff games. They were so dominant that Pritchard hopes they can repeat the same success for the 2025 NBA Playoffs. He gave his honest thoughts while talking with The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmelsbach.
“Hopefully, we can win it again,” Pritchard told Himmelsbach in a July 7 story. “We haven’t really talked about it yet, but that doesn’t need to be talked about. It’s already what we want.”
Pritchard acknowledges what the Celtics just did but knows that last season has no bearing on this season.
“We’ve got to have an appreciation for what we just did, and understand it’s really hard and look at it like we accomplished something great,” he said. “But then we’ve got to do it again.”
The Celtics have essentially run back the same roster from the 2023-24 season. This offseason has been primarily about extending the players on the roster. While they are the reigning champions, anything can happen in 2025.
