The Boston Celtics won’t be their typical, championship-contending selves this season. But that doesn’t mean 2025-26 is meaningless.
No matter how you want to label this upcoming season for the Celtics — gap year, developmental or any other vernacular for a low-stakes basketball team — there will still be a ton to glean.
Organizationally, how much they can develop their younger players matters for a team with hopes of contending again once Jayson Tatum returns following his torn Achilles. How much can their current (healthy) stars, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, expand their games? Without Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford in the mix, which of their current bigs stand a chance of fitting into the long-term picture?
Perhaps, the most intriguing question for the Celtics in 2025-26 is the growth of their reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Payton Pritchard.
Pritchard was electric last season. He’s quickly become a fan favorite in a diehard sports town because of his timely shot-making and Energizer Bunny-like pace. But can he be more?
Will Pritchard Start?
By trading for Anfernee Simons this summer, the Celtics have some questions to answer about their starting lineup. Brown and White are locked in. Will they start Simons or Pritchard? Do they prioritize ball-handling/shooting, play small and start both?
You can make the case either way — head coach Joe Mazzulla will have to decide — but there’s no question what Pritchard can do alongside other creators.
Last season, Pritchard was one of the best off-ball weapons in the NBA. He shot 45 percent from three off the catch and ranked in the 93rd percentile as a spot-up threat (1.25 points per possession). He was even more dangerous maneuvering around screens, ranking in the 95th percentile and shooting an absurd 52 percent from deep in these sets. As a starter, Pritchard can thrive with this usage and relieve pressure from Brown and White.
At the same time, in a “developmental” season, it’s worthwhile for Pritchard and the Celtics to explore other facets of his game. Specifically, seeing how much more he can do with the ball in his hands is crucial. He ran 417 pick-and-rolls last season (including passes) and placed in the 89th percentile in points per possession. Still, his volume here should see an uptick. For example, both Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson ran more pick-and-rolls than Pritchard last year and neither has a better repertoire than him to operate ball-screens.
Pritchard shot a respectable 35 percent on pull-up threes (2.8 attempts per game) in 2025-26. He shot an excellent 70 percent at the rim. With the ball in his hands, he’s capable of making sharp reads. How much can he sustain those scoring marks when defenses are keyed in on him more frequently?
Perhaps, opportunity is the best argument against starting Pritchard. Starting next to Brown and White will likely relegate him to working off the ball. While he can thrive there, it could be beneficial having him commandeer bench lineups and see just how much he can do as a lead creator.
Besides, while Pritchard is a scrappy defender, his 6-foot-1 frame will cause a ripple effect across the rest of the already-small starting group. Starting him or Simons poses this problem, let alone both.
The likely scenario is Pritchard opens the season with the starting five. He’s earned that level of opportunity and responsibility. And even if he isn’t labeled a starter, he’ll still play starter-level minutes for a Celtics team in flux.
Can Pritchard Hang Defensively?
No matter how talented Pritchard is, it’s still hard to be a small guard in the modern NBA. Defenders are asked to cover significant amounts of ground and guard a variety of situations, which makes it quite challenging for small guards to be wildly impactful in winning.
That’s not to say they can’t do so. Fred VanVleet has turned himself into a good starting point guard with active hands and savvy basketball feel to help him at the point of attack defensively. His sturdy physique lets him switch onto bigger players as well. T.J. McConnell was just an integral part of an NBA Finals team, impacting games with his chaotic pace and a feisty defensive demeanor.
Pritchard has done enough so far in his career to be viable on defense. Last season, he graded out as a “good” to “very good” defender across all major actions, including limiting opponents to 0.896 points per possession when guarding pick-and-roll ball-handlers. He was also fourth on the Celtics in total steals behind Tatum, Brown and White.
Just how much better can he be when asked to do more offensively? Or, at the very least, can he sustain the improvements he’s made on that end with heightened offensive usage?
His activity and tenacity will help. After all, half the battle is effort and Pritchard provides that. But a new role in an evolving context provides considerable uncertainty. It’s up to Pritchard to provide clarity this season.
Clarifying The Present And Future
Pritchard is pivotal to everything the Celtics want to build moving forward. On the court, he is the perfect release valve to their stars as an off-ball savant who shows promise of flexing his self-creation muscles.
But even financially, his growth as a player is immensely important. The Celtics gutted their championship core this summer to cut costs and get under the first apron. With Brown, White, and Tatum locked in long-term, they still have an average of $140 million committed to three players each year until 2029. This an expensive group that will have to work the margins and rebuild itself as a contender.
Pritchard is entering year two of a four-year, $30 million contract. It’s a massive bargain for the Celtics and a perfect example of excelling on those margins. If they want to hoist another banner someday soon with this core, they’ll need cost-effective players like him to be difference-makers moving forward.
That’s why this season still matters. It’s an opportunity for the Celtics to look within and find out what they’re made of. With grander opportunity ahead in 2025-26, Pritchard is among those prime to do exactly that.
