Payton Pritchard has been a dominant force for the Boston Celtics this season off their bench. It’s no wonder he ran away with the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
Pritchard was named the league’s Sixth Man of the Year on Tuesday, beating out Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome and Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley. He received 82 of 100 first-place votes, with Beasley next-closes with 13.
Pritchard is in his fifth season with the Celtics now, and he’s shined in the bench role this past year. He averaged 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, all of which are career-highs, and he’s been one of the most consistent players on an already stacked roster that went 61-21 this season after their championship last summer and entered the postseason as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Only the Cleveland Cavaliers, just barely, and the Oklahoma City Thunder finished ahead of them in the standings league-wide.
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Pritchard has come off the bench and shot better than 40% from behind the arc while taking nearly eight 3-pointers per game. He’s averaged 3.2 made buckets from deep, too, which is also a career-best for the former Oregon star who once led the Ducks to the Final Four. The 27-year-old, who the Celtics took with the No. 26 overall pick in 2020, signed a four-year, $30 million deal with the team in 2023.
As a result, Pritchard is now just the fourth Celtics player in history to be named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. Kevin McHale won it twice in 1984 and 1985. Bill Walton won it the next year in 1986, and then Malcolm Brogdon won it in 2023.
Jerome and Beasley have had great seasons, too. Jerome has had a breakout campaign with the Cavaliers, where he’s averaged a career-high 12.5 points and 3.4 assists per game while helping the franchise to the top seed in the Eastern Conference. He’s shot a career-high 51.6% from the field, too.
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Beasley has been similar in Detroit. He’s played in 82 games for the first time in his career this year while putting up 16.3 points per game and shooting a career-best 41.6% from the 3-point line. He helped the Pistons into the playoffs for the first time since 2019, too, and rebounded expertly after a pair of back-to-back seasons with win totals in the teens.
But in the end, Pritchard was the runaway for this award. His impact in Boston has been immeasurable, and it may just lead them on another deep playoff run once again.
