Celtics News: Payton Pritchard Name Drops NBA Legends He Played While in High School

The best player on the Celtics' bench used to play against some of the best players in the game when he was in high school.

Dec 25, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11) dribbles the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers during the second half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images / Eric Canha-Imagn Images

The Boston Celtics have a lot of expensive contracts on the books for the next few years. Jayson Tatum is making $313 million over five years. Jaylen Brown is making $285.3 million over the five years his contract runs. Jrue Holiday commands $134.4 million over four years. Derrick White also gets $118 million over four seasons.

As you can see, the Celtics have a ton of massive contracts. Those expensive contracts make it very hard for Boston to make trades this season because they are a team over the second apron of the luxury tax. That means they will have to rely a lot on the guys they already have.

One contract that is not expensive, and quite frankly a bargain, is the contract of Payton Pritchard. He is making just $30 million over four years. He has been by far their best player off the bench, putting up 15.3 points per game while also shooting 41% from three.

Perhaps part of the reason why Pritchard has been so good is because of the players he used to play against in high school. He used to play against one of the most underrated guards in the NBA.

"You know, growing up, when I was going into my sophomore of high school, Steve Blake was still in the league and he lived in my hometown. So we used to play one-on-one every day. So honestly, I probably took things from him."

Payton used to play 1v1 against NBA players while he was in high school 🤯

Listen to his full interview now on VFTR ⤵️

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 26, 2024

Pritchard is one of the best guards off the bench in the league. The Celtics also eye him as a future starter once Holiday decides to either move to another team or retire. The one thing that Pritchard still needs to get a little better with is his passing, which is something the team doesn't ask him to do a lot right now.

The Celtics are in a bit of a slump right now. Boston has lost three of their last four games, which is something that hasn't happened since the 2022-23 regular season. This is the first time this season that the Celtics have faced some adversity in a while.

How the team is able to respond to this will determine what kind of seed they end up with in the East. Boston is four games behind the Cavs for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Pritchard is going to be a big reason if they are able to catch them.

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