Payton Pritchard came off the bench and changed games for the Boston Celtics this season.
He was the only player in the NBA with more than 1,000 points in games that he didn’t start. He set the league record for 3-pointers made by a backup. And the voters took notice of all that and more, picking the Celtics guard as the league’s sixth man of the year this season.
Pritchard topped Detroit’s Malik Beasley and Cleveland’s Ty Jerome for the award. It’s the fifth time that a Celtics player won the award: Kevin McHale claimed it in 1984 and 1985, Bill Walton in 1986 and Malcolm Brogdon won it in 2023.
“This is definitely an honor,” Pritchard said during TNT’s broadcast Tuesday night when the results were revealed.
And maybe fittingly, the award is named for another Celtics legend — John Havlicek.
“Payton is a baller — and his teammates know what they are getting every single day in terms of effort, care, and commitment,” Celtics President Brad Stevens said in a statement released by the team. “For him to be honored with the award named after the great John Havlicek is a credit to all that he brings to the table for our team.”
It’s the first of this season’s NBA awards to be announced, with others to be scattered over the coming weeks. The clutch player of the year award (Jalen Brunson of New York, Anthony Edwards of Minnesota or Nikola Jokic of Denver) will be announced Wednesday night and the defensive player of the year (Dyson Daniels of Atlanta, Draymond Green of Golden State or Evan Mobley of Cleveland) will be announced Thursday night.
The awards are voted on by a global panel of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league.
Pritchard led all reserves in points (1,079 in the games in which he did not start), 3-pointers (246, not including nine more he made in his three games as a starter), along with plus-minus (+428). And among nonstarters, his assist total of 257 ranked third-best in the league behind only Indiana’s T.J. McConnell and Portland’s Scoot Henderson.
Part of Pritchard’s role is clear: Provide help to Boston’s 1-2 punch of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and he’s made it look easy.
“It’s a learning curve coming from college. Everything was ran through me,” Pritchard said. “So then, coming here, I’m playing with a lot of stars … so it’s definitely a feel. I feel like I’m still getting better at it, but it’s just reading the game, knowing when maybe the defense is keying in on J.T. and J.B. more, and they’re kind of leaving gaps open. Then you’ve got to take advantage of those opportunities.”
Pritchard is a fan favorite in Boston for a slew of reasons, including his energy and penchant — not to mention willingness — to shoot deep 3s at the ends of quarters and halves, even low-percentage ones that in theory could hurt his stats. He also had one of the wildest triple-doubles (though it technically doesn’t count as one) in NBA history on March 5, when he had 43 points, 10 rebounds and 10 3-pointers made, all of that off the bench.
The Celtics won a lot of games regardless; they were 61-21 this season. But when Pritchard was great, they were even tougher to beat. Boston went 17-6 this season when Pritchard came off the bench and scored at least 20 points, 36-12 when he came off the bench and scored at least 10 points.
“Payton’s also a gamer, as everybody here sees,” Celtics guard Jrue Holiday said. “Any opportunity he can to put that ball in the basket, he does it. But what makes him special is what he does on the defensive end — picking up anybody full court, just being a dog, hounding whoever’s in front of him.”
Pritchard was the runaway winner, getting 82 of the possible 100 first-place votes. Beasley (13 first-place votes) was second, Jerome (two first-place votes) was third and his Cleveland teammate De’Andre Hunter (also two first-place votes) was fourth.
Minnesota’s Naz Reid, last year’s winner, got the other first-place vote and was fifth. His Minnesota teammate Nickeil Alexander-Walker was sixth, Denver’s Russell Westbrook was seventh and Oklahoma City’s Alex Caruso was eighth.
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AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower in Boston contributed.
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