In the wake of the Boston Celtics‘ massive July trade of Jaylen Brown to the Sixers, a deal that stunned many across the league and angered fans in the Hub, one of the big means of finding some peace with the team’s new reality was to turn to Payton Pritchard, the seventh-year guard who has improved every season he has been in the league and averaged career highs of 17.0 points, 5.2 assists and 4.0 rebounds in 2025-26.
It became, in fact, a common talking point among the NBA’s media.
A headline on USA Today’s Celtics Wire website read: “Payton Pritchard may be the biggest beneficiary of the Boston Celtics trading Jaylen Brown.”
NBC Sports Boston wrote, “There will be an opportunity for Payton Pritchard to step into a bigger spotlight yet again.”
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst declared on his “Hoops Collective” podcast: “Part of this is they’re gonna boost Payton Pritchard’s role even more, and build out more for him.”
And there was Tom Haberstroh of Yahoo Sports, who drew some eye-rolls when he wondered aloud, “Is Payton Pritchard a mini Jalen Brunson?”
Payton Pritchard Will Get More Shots for Celtics
It’s a lot to put on Pritchard, but certainly, with Jaylen Brown traded, Pritchard’s role will change for the Celtics. It’s worth noting that Pritchard averaged 13.8 shots per game last season, a career high, but his efficiency is reflected in that fact that the Celtics fared better and better the more he shot–they were 16-3 when he took 17 or more shots, and 9-10 when he took 10 shots or fewer.
It’s not the firmest ground on which to stake a season, but that does seem to be where the Celtics’ hope lies–Brown was not an effective scorer in that he could be counted on to take difficult shots when nothing else presented itself, but he was not an especially efficient scorer. If Paul George and Jayson Tatum are healthy, and Pritchard shoots more, the Celtics expect their offense to remain potent and perhaps better suited for the playoffs.
Payton Pritchard Focused on ‘Bettering Myself’
Pritchard, though, said he is not looking at himself as the Celtics’ answer to Brunson. He’s trying to keep his goals self-contained.
As he told Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston: “My only thought is to find new ways to better myself, get a little bit better and help my team win. So, if I look at the end of this year and I seen I took a jump, then that was a positive year and I am going in the right direction. That is the only thing I am focusing on is bettering myself and letting the outcome show. …
“Becoming more efficient, making better reads. I feel like the game is more read-based and if you’re making better reads, then you take the shot at the right time, if the double-team is there, you make the right pass. The best players in the world do that at a high level.”
Celtics in Familiar Position
As for the Celtics’ outlook, Pritchard compared it to last season, when the team was heading into a supposed “gap year” because of Tatum’s Achilles tendon rehab. Now, Boston is being doubted because Brown is out.
Said Pritchard: “I feel the same way. I feel like we have another year that we have to prove it and, you know, I thought regular season, we did a great job last year. And we started off slow but obviously, in the playoffs, we did not have the playoff run we wanted, let a 3-1 lead slip which, you know, eats away at a lot of us this summer.
“Added extra motivation this summer to attack it and come back better, try to improve.”
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