One of the hottest talking points for the Boston Celtics heading into the trade deadline on February 9 is the decision of whether or not to trade third-year reserve combo guard Payton Pritchard. Pritchard is no longer the primary backup at the 1, where he took on a more significant role last season after the Celtics found a deal for Dennis Schroder. Malcolm Brogdon’s arrival has since sent Pritchard back to the bench for the most part outside of garbage time minutes.
If Boston feels a need elsewhere on the roster needs to be addressed, it seems as though Pritchard is the odd man out. Derrick White has been effective as a starter in 2022-23, and there have not been talks of a Brogdon trade.
Because of that, Celtics Wire’s Justin Quinn twice linked Pritchard to two of the potentially gettable targets listed by HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan. One of those is long-time Houdini favorite Mo Bamba, who has been de-prioritized in the Orlando Magic’s big man rotation:
"“If Boston wanted to feel more comfortable with its big man depth, Bamba’s contract size at $10.3 million would require moving on from Danilo Gallinari to make salaries work, but the non-guarantee for next season offers some insurance in case it went poorly.”“With 3 seconds to burn in this year’s draft, Boston could field a solid offer if they included Payton Pritchard in a deal Scotto doesn’t see the Magic getting a first for…”"
The other is Cody Martin. Quinn feels a Pritchard-Martin swap would be of great benefit to the Charlotte Hornets:
"“While Martin, as Gozlan notes, fits the Hornets’ timeline, Pritchard fits it even better at 21 years old and might be able to offer some spacing Charlotte sorely lacks.”"
The Boston Celtics would be a better basketball team with either player
At full health, the Boston Celtics would be an objectively better basketball team with either Cody Martin or Mo Bamba in Payton Pritchard’s roster slot. There is, however, a kicker.
Should the Cs suffer an injury to Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, or Derrick White, Pritchard would be more useful to the team’s depth chart than Martin or Bamba. Without a guard capable of getting Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown the ball in their spots, the offense will unravel. Trading away Pritchard and losing any other guard due to injury would be a major problem for Boston, who might be able to survive without making a move for Martin or Bamba anyway.