Payton Pritchard became a member of the USA Select Team following a difficult season in which he was not included in the Celtics’ rotation. He gained priceless summer experience there, developing his skills against luminaries Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, and Jalen Brunson.
Better than when he left Boston after the 2022–2023 season, the former Oregon Duck is back in Boston. To Inside The Celtics, he called his time in Las Vegas a “confidence booster.”
Pritchard went on, “Everyone there is a star on their team; they are all elite players.” “Therefore, it was a confidence boost to go out there and compete with those guys and see where your game matches up—I really believe in myself.” I’ll keep doing it, then.The now 26-year-old guard had his greatest season in the Association after agreeing to a four-year, $30 million contract extension prior to the 2023–24 campaign.
Since Boston selected him in the 2020 NBA Draft, Pritchard has played in more over 20 minutes per game (22.3), averaging 9.6 points, 3.4 assists, and 3.2 rebounds—all career highs. In addition to making 38.5% of his 4.7 three-point attempts, he also developed a greater sense of ease shifting gears and adjusting his pace to help his teammates get easy baskets at the rim.
In addition, according to NBA.com, Pritchard, who participated in all 82 regular-season games, has the most plus-minus rating of any second-unit member with a total of plus-375.
He also scored the most points in the league, 122.8, per 100 possessions. His net rating of 13.6 was fourth. According to NBA.com, his 4.61 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked seventh out of players who played in at least 41 games and 18 minutes each time.
After that, the fourth-year guard assisted Boston in raising Banner 18, including becoming the first player to make two buzzer-beaters in the NBA Finals from a distance of at least thirty feet, according to Stathead, which started keeping track of these in the play-by-play period of 1997–98.