Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard is coming off the best season of his professional career. In the 2024-25 campaign, the 27-year-old averaged 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 47.2% from the field and 40.7% from beyond the arc en route to winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award.
Pritchard’s hard work during the offseason helped launch him to a new level, so much so that he won’t be putting together a repeat run at Sixth Man of the Year.
If the latest from Fast Break Journal’s Grant Afseth is true, then the Oregonian is set to be Boston’s starting point guard. We’ll all have to wait for opening night for confirmation, but a promotion for Pritchard has been in the cards all summer long.
Payton Pritchard seems primed for more opportunity
With the significant losses of Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Jayson Tatum, who is recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, the Celtics are going to have to find additional scoring from somewhere.
Pritchard is the obvious choice, despite the team’s addition of Anfernee Simons.
Throughout his Celtics career, and last year specifically, the former first-round pick has proven to be a versatile offensive weapon. He’s thrived as a catch-and-shoot guy on the perimeter, while also showing plenty of comfort when putting the ball on the floor. He was given more freedom to do the latter in 24-25 and added five points to his scoring average. His free-throw line turnaround, in particular, was a welcome addition to his bag.
Of course, as a starting point guard, Prtichard is going to be asked to do more than just score. If he’s going to have the ball more consistently, then he’ll have to put his teammates in position to thrive, too. The sample size is small, but Pro-Am P made three starts towards the end of last season. Yes, the opposition wasn’t quite top-tier as teams typically rest key rotation pieces in early April, but fans caught a glimpse of Pritchard’s playmaking ability.
His assist average more than doubled when he was a starter, ballooning up to 7.3 dimes per outing.
Though Pritchard is coming off an impressive season, another leap isn’t guaranteed. There are going to be growing pains with the added responsibility. He’ll be seeing more attention from the defense, not only because of the new role, but also because of the turnover of talent this summer. Things are a lot easier when the entire starting five is made up of All-Star-level players. Now, with the roster including more project types, the opposition will undoubtedly be focused on Pritchard more than in the past.
How he handles the extra attention will define him as a starting-caliber guy in the NBA.