Pointing to his growth as a player, Boston’s Payton Pritchard plans on returning to the NBA Finals with the Celtics

A taste of the NBA’s biggest stage has changed everything for this team — and they don’t just want another shot, they want more.

The Boston Celtics had something of a historic outlier of an NBA season, going from a team that struggled to stay above .500 to start their 2021-22 campaign to flipping a switch when 2022 arrived to play like the best team in the league to close out the season on their way to a Finals berth and two wins away from a title.

Over that stretch, second-year reserve guard Payton Pritchard managed to crack the team’s rotation after getting buried in the team’s backcourt as consolidatory deals at the 2022 NBA trade deadline opened space for the Oregon product to spread his wings. Pritchard opened up about the evolution of his role with the Celtics on Friday afternoon.

“This season’s probably been one of my biggest growths mentally,” said the West Linn native.