Former Oregon Ducks guard Payton Pritchard has found himself in a shrinking role with the Boston Celtics over the past three years.
His playing time peaked at 19.2 minutes per game as a rookie, fell to 14.1 minutes last year, and now sits at just 12.5 minutes through his first 35 games of the 2022-23 season.
Pritchard was behind Dennis Schroder and Marcus Smart last year, and this year his minutes took a tumble after the team acquired Malcolm Brogdon over the summer.
The 25-year-old guard spoke candidly with Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner on the Point Forward podcast, indicating he is hoping for a bigger role over the next few years of his NBA career.
“Obviously after I’m done here, after this year, I’d like to look — be a part of a bigger role a little bit,” Pritchard said.
He went on to explain that – while he doesn’t know what his future holds – he feels he owes it to himself to get an opportunity to play a bigger role.
It’s obviously what I work for. I think that’s what Brad and them know, too. We’ve had that discussion but — a bigger role. I want to be part of a winning culture but I want to also help that, be a really big piece of that. I’m not saying it’s the best player on the team but I don’t know what my future holds unless I can take that next step. I don’t know what it is in five or 10 years but I just want to look back and know that I put my best foot forward. I put all the work in so whatever happens I can live with as long as I did it my way. That’s the most important thing for me.
Payton Pritchard spoke candidly about wanting a bigger role in the future on the Point Forward podcast https://t.co/BqCF1d1Bbh
— masslivesports (@masslivesports) January 30, 2023
Pritchard is under his rookie contract through the 2023-24 season, and considering he’d only cost Boston about $4 million it is hard to imagine the team dealing him right now, since he provides valuable guard depth and would be unlikely to fetch a return compelling enough for Boston to give that up.
Still, it is worth monitoring if Pritchard will get moved, either in the next few weeks or over the summer, and how a chance of scenery might impact the West Linn product and his ability to play a bigger role at the NBA level.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f27mq9z7hjgk6vc6 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]
[listicle id=38364]