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Boston Celtics reporter implies oft-floated trade target can get MLE extension

By Andrew Hughes

Bobby Manning of the Boston Sports Journal implied the Boston Celtics can hand an oft-floated trade target a MLE extension (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
Bobby Manning of the Boston Sports Journal implied the Boston Celtics can hand an oft-floated trade target a MLE extension (Photo by Omar Rawlings/Getty Images) /
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Oft-floated Boston Celtics trade target Payton Pritchard could get a contract extension worth roughly the mid-level exception according to the Boston Sports Journal’s Bobby Manning — who slipped in that projection while discussing the team’s future cap sheet in the wake of Jaylen Brown’s Supermax extension.

“Stevens said all summer he has the green light to add, spend and pursue a championship at all costs,” Manning prefaced before saying, “Eventually, there’ll be some limit. That line likely arrives in 2025-26. Tatum will begin his supermax at roughly $55 million (35% of the expected 2026 cap). Brown’s salary will increase to over $56 million and Porziņģis enters the final season of his extension at $30.7 million. Those three contracts alone will approach the salary cap line, with Robert Williams III’s final season on his deal, White’s first on a new deal, Payton Pritchard on a roughly mid-level extension and whatever draft picks, trade additions from the prior two years and minimum contracts rounding out a roster now facing repeater taxes (which include a 5.5x multiplier for each dollar spent $10 million over the tax, and 6.5x multiplier for each dollar over $15-million).”

Given Pritchard’s midseason trade request ahead of the February trade deadline due to a lack of playing time, it’s shocking to even see the point guard on the roster at this point. Marcus Smart was not the Cs floor general many had on their bingo card to be dealt this offseason. But an extension? That would be a genuine shocker.

Payton Pritchard will help make up ‘usual’ Boston Celtics bench rotation

Pritchard figures to get the playing time he desires this offseason according to MassLive’s Brian Robb, who believes that Fast PP will help make up the “usual” Boston Celtics bench rotation during the 2023-24 season.

“When the Celtics are at full strength, there probably won’t be many minutes for the new guys,” Robb said in answering a question from a reader in his Celtics Mailbag about playing time for Oshae Brissett, Jordan Walsh, and Dalano Banton. “Maybe one of them could slide into the rotation as a ninth guy on select nights (Brissett feels like a good candidate for that) but Horford/Brogdon/Pritchard/Hauser may make up usual bench rotation.”

It’s been a quick media coverage switch-up on Pritchard, who was once a trade candidate but is now seen as a long-term piece for the Cs.

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