14 players were signed to rookie scale extension contracts in October 2023 and no one took a cheaper deal than Payton Pritchard. The Celtics guard settled for a four-year pact for $30 million in total despite the fact he had already shown he was capable of playing playoff rotation minutes in the midst of the Celtics run to the 2022 NBA Finals.

Brad Stevens, the president of basketball operations, wisely was able to shuffle Boston's roster so guard Payton Pritchard could see more minutes.

As of Monday, most prominent sportsbooks had Pritchard pegged as the NBA Sixth Man of the Year favorite. DraftKings gave him the shortest award odds at +250, followed by Hield (+600) and Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin (+600).

Shaking my notebook up and down and seeing what falls out as the Celtics return home at 9-3… ▪ The technical foul free throw is one of the true tests of basketball’s hierarchy. For the most part, the attempt usually goes to the highest profile player on the floor,

Payton Pritchard consistently provides a spark, especially when the starters get off to a slow start, like in both games against the Milwaukee Bucks, where Pritchard had 19 and 17