What Payton Pritchard needs to do to make this season with the Boston Celtics a success

Pritchard has not exactly lit the world on fire on the court since inking his extension, but there’s been flashes.

After signing a considerable if still team-friendly contract extension ahead of the NBA’s 2023-24 season, backup Boston Celtics combo guard Payton Pritchard has not exactly lit the world on fire on the court. We are not in any way insinuating that the West Linn native has taken his foot off the pedal or is in some way not taking the season as seriously as he should, but rather that Pritchard has yet to carve out a consistent role with the team’s bench unit.

That can be hard to do on a ball club with so much firepower on the offensive end of the court, and harder still considering that head coach Joe Mazzulla has been tinkering with his rotations early in the season. The lack of continuity undoubtedly has complicated the job in front of Pritchard, but in recent tilts things have picked up for the Oregon alum.

Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley recently made the case for what Pritchard needs to do to make this season a success from his perspective, suggesting that his season to date “has been a mixed bag.”