BOSTON — Payton Pritchard left last year’s NBA Finals hoping for a larger role and consistent playing time each night, so he could build a rhythm and prove himself as a major contributor on a winning team.
Instead, the Celtics traded for Malcolm Brogdon after already acquiring Derrick White, placing Pritchard in an admittedly difficult situation ahead of training camp. One he might not have managed successfully without the arrival of long-time friend Blake Griffin, who stayed in his ear throughout camp and encouraged him.
Now, as a the trade deadline approaches, Pritchard successfully completed three stints of extra playing time filling in while Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Brogdon sat injured. He managed the difficult task of sitting some nights and playing longer stints on others, exhausting himself over 43 minutes in Miami. As the team assesses its depth and his future, with teams reportedly interested in Pritchard around the league, he told CLNS Media his future with the Celtics is out of his control. Whatever happens is meant to happen, Pritchard said.
“We ain’t worried about that,” Al Horford interrupted, walking by in the Celtics’ locker room as Pritchard answered the question. “We ain’t worried about that. Don’t ask that.”
Pritchard impressed his teammates with the professionalism he showed in a difficult spot in the first half of the season. He averaged 8.8 points per game on 52.9% shooting during his first five-game bump in minutes in November, five wins, after sitting in seven of Boston’s first 10 games. Through Jan. 9, he sat eight more times and averaged eight minutes when he did play.
Earlier this month, he scored nine points off the bench at Brooklyn with Brown out and hit 4-of-7 from three to lead a late comeback at Toronto while Smart, White and Robert Williams III all fell injured. Smart, in Brooklyn, also described the difficult position Boston put Pritchard in and how he encouraged the guard.
“Payton is a very professional guy,” Smart said. “He comes in every day and he works like he’s a rookie. When you’ve got a guy like that, his time’s gonna come … you’re not playing on this team, you’re not getting the moments you want and think you deserve, which you do, because we’re so stacked, but there’s 29 other teams watching you. They understand your situation. They want to see how you handle this. I just constantly tell him, ‘when your time is called, and it’s time for you to go up there for your opportunity, take it, because you may never get it again.’”
Griffin, who realized years ago his days as a star ended and accepted a small role in Brooklyn and Boston, made a habit upon arrival of telling teammates something before each game. That usually led him to Pritchard and other bench players like Luke Kornet, who didn’t receive much playing time early in the schedule. He knew Pritchard from hosting him at a Clippers-Blazers game in Portland, joking that Pritchard de-committed from his alma matter Oklahoma soon after.
Griffin reminded him things can change quickly in the NBA and lead them into significant roles, which ultimately happened against the Kings in November when Joe Mazzulla handed Pritchard and Kornet major second half roles. Pritchard finished with nine points in 15 minutes and a team-high +22 in Boston’s 122-104 win. When Pritchard isn’t playing, Griffin usually sits next to him, whispering and making him laugh in timeout huddles.
“(Griffin told me) just always stay engaged and ready,” Pritchard told CLNS Media this week. “Sometimes you’re in and out of the lineup, and you feel like you could be other places playing or whatever. As a competitor, you want to always play, but having somebody to always be in your ear, ‘keep working, keep grinding every day and your time will come,’ helps a lot, because a lot of guys don’t have that and then they’ll be like, you miss a few days and you go downhill mentally and it spirals.”
Pritchard scrimmages and plays one-on-one on off days after he doesn’t play in games, since the Celtics haven’t typically practiced during the condensed regular season schedule. That likely won’t happen often in the coming weeks leading up to the deadline after Smart sprained his ankle in Toronto. Smart said he’ll take his time returning after hurting the same ankle in the east finals and playing through it.
The Celtics don’t enter the deadline with significant needs. Kornet and Griffin managed well as backup bigs, and whoever they bring in as reinforcements wouldn’t play many if Robert Williams III and Horford are healthy. The same goes for the wing, where Brogdon, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will suffice in a playoff rotation. Nonetheless, Tatum expressed Pritchard’s importance to the team last week in Orlando.
“(Pritchard’s) extremely valuable to us,” Tatum told CLNS. “He has extreme confidence and he can play. He’s not in an ideal situation, but he’s on the best team and winning is everybody’s priority. When guys are out or guys aren’t available, we always know we can plug Payton in at any time of the game and he’s going to produce, and every team can’t say that. So, we’re extremely grateful to have him on the team.”
Pritchard and Sam Hauser sat earlier this month against Golden State and appeared for five minutes each in Saturday’s win over the Lakers. Tatum is averaging 38.7 MPG this month though and only Anthony Edwards, Mikal Bridges and Julius Randle logged more than Tatum’s 1,798 minutes this season. Pritchard could contribute in three-guard lineups over Hauser, which happened in the latest Brooklyn game. Mazzulla praised Pritchard’s defensive growth and he even switched onto Bam Adebayo in the high post last week at Miami.
There’s also a case to increase the team’s depth at those more vulnerable positions, and while the Celtics enter the deadline happy with Pritchard and his production, they’ll discuss possible moves as they prepare to end their in-season scouting and assemble to decide their deadline direction over the next week. Pritchard told the Point Forward podcast he’s expressed his desire to eventually take on a larger role to Brad Stevens.
“I’m just letting my agent handle that,” Pritchard told CLNS. “Whatever it is, it’s out of my control. I think I’ll be good, regardless.”
