Payton Pritchard, a guard for the Boston Celtics, has agreed to a new deal worth $30 million over four years.
There is no doubt that Pritchard will play a more significant part off the Celtics’ bench this season because of the fully guaranteed deal.
Pritchard said, “It feels perfect,” after Boston’s first practice game on Sunday night. To be safe, lock it up and be a part of a great group and a great place. This is the best NBA basketball team and city. “I feel good.”
Seventeen players in the 2020 draft class have agreed to deals worth their starting year. Pritchard is the latest to do so. Anthony Edwards from Minnesota, LaMelo Ball from Charlotte, Tyrese Haliburton from Indiana, Isaiah Stewart from Detroit, Desmond Bane from Memphis, and Devin Vassell from San Antonio are the others.
Oct. 23 is the last day to sign an extension.
Pritchard, who is 25, played 13.4 minutes per game last year, the fewest of his career. However, those minutes are likely to go up again this year. Pritchard was picked 26th overall in the 2020 draft out of Oregon. In his first two NBA seasons, he played an average of 19.2 minutes and 14.1 minutes per game.
Second Spectrum says that since joining the NBA in 2020, Pritchard has made 42.6% of his catch-and-shoot 3-point shots. That puts him in the top 15 in the league among players who have tried 300 or more shots in that time. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Pritchard made and helped with 17 3-pointers in the last game of the 2022–23 regular season. This is tied for the most by any player in an NBA game ever.
He also had a triple-double and nine 3-pointers in a game, making him the only player in NBA history to do so, along with James Harden. In the last game of the regular season, Pritchard scored 30 points, grabbed 14 boards, and passed the ball 11 times.
