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

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.

Payton Pritchard was unhappy with his performance in Tuesday night’s Celtics defeat. He didn’t think he played with the necessary energy in Boston’s sloppy, mistake-filled, one-point home loss to Atlanta and wanted to remedy that Wednesday against Brooklyn.

The Oregon native has been lighting it up from beyond the arc, and has become a plus defender on the other end of the court.

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).

Oregon Ducks fans should be paying close attention to Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard this season, following his first NBA championship. A major growth a