Year five has been good to former Oregon guard Payton Pritchard so far.
The fifth-year guard out of Oregon has seen his minutes double since the 2022-23 season and all of his numbers through four games are on pace to be the best of his young career.
Pritchard is coming off his best game of the season in which he dropped 28 points with five rebounds, three assists, and two steals in 28 minutes in a comeback win over Milwaukee. The Celtics needed a shot in the arm with Jayson Tatum not having his best game and Pritchard was able to provide that, making 10-of-14 field goals and 8-for-12 from deep to lead Boston past the Bucks.
He also had a clutch buzzer-beater at the end of the third quarter, giving Boston some momentum heading into the fourth.
Payton Pritchard with a buzzer beater! He finished with 28 points 🦆pic.twitter.com/fajW49GbDb
— Oregon Updates (@oregon__updates) October 29, 2024
Through four games this season, Pritchard is averaging 16.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.3 assists while shooting about 49 percent from the floor and 50 percent from deep. He's on pace to have a career year and he's doing all this off the bench.
That's wildly impressive.
NBA's 6th men of the year are usually putting up similar numbers and if Pritchard can keep this up, he could be in the running for that or maybe even the most improved player award.
After a career-best season in 2023-24, Pritchard is already showing more improvement. He averaged 9.6 points and 3.4 assists while shooting 47 percent from the floor last year and he's almost doubling his offensive output through four games. Let's hope he can keep up this torrid pace.