Boston Celtics: Ranking the C’s top-3 trade assets

Most valuable trade asset on Boston Celtics No. 3) Payton Pritchard

Though we may list a player as being a valuable trade asset, this does not mean we hope to see them shipped out of Boston this offseason.

Such is the case for Payton Pritchard who, though we hope he remains on the roster moving forward, is undeniably one of the more valuable commodities currently on the Celtics and, in our humble opinion, he places third in such a conversation (again, obviously we’re omitting Jayson Tatum).

Selected 26th overall in last year’s draft, the point guard proved to be quite a surprise commodity during his rookie campaign with the Shamrocks. In 66 outings, the 23-year-old managed to log 19.2 minutes per game to go along with 7.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 44 percent shooting from the floor and 41 percent shooting from deep.

Though these numbers on the surface may not be all that, when crunched into per 36 minutes conversions, these stats jump up quite significantly to 14.5 points, 4.5 boards, and 3.4 assists.

Now, while one can obviously argue that these stats are simply based on projections, when looking at the games in which Pritchard actually logged between 30-39 minutes this year, his averages actually find themselves in the same ball-park as these per 36 numbers, as he wound up posting 18.5 points, four assists, and 2.5 rebounds on a whopping 61 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent shooting from deep.

Still on his rookie deal for at least another year with two club options following the conclusion of 2021-22, a player viewed as somewhat of a younger Fred VanVleet at an average salary of about $2.1 million a year could be viewed as an unbelievably intruiging commodity to get their hands on, thus making him our pick for the C’s third most valuable asset.