How Blake Griffin recognized Payton Pritchard's potential years ago
01/27/2025 03:36 PM
Many folks around the NBA love Boston Celtics guard, Payton Pritchard. One of those is former Celtics power forward, Blake Griffin. Throughout Pritchard’s career, he’s shown himself to be one of the most reliable shooters off the bench. For instance, an Ex-NBA player dropped a nice admission about Pritchard, and that player was Chandler Parsons.
However, Griffin’s compliments were more of an anecdote than anything. He explained on the We Might Be Drunk Podcast about the moment he knew Pritchard would be a star.
“Payton Pritchard, my first week in Boston after practice was like ‘You want to play ones’, which is one-on-one at the end of practice,” Griffin said. “One-on-one in the NBA is like you get two dribbles and it's very controlled. You're from a certain spot.
“So Payton gets the ball and I'm up on defense and he's just like (makes dribbling motion) and I'm like you know what I'm good, I don't need this. He's so good. This kid like works so hard, just the hardest. He's one of those guys where you watch him play and you're like oh he's got like that thing.”
Blake Griffin knew that Payton Pritchard would be a Celtics star
Pritchard took a jump this season statistically and in terms of his role on the Celtics. He's averaging 14.1 points, shooting 40.8% from 3-point range and 3.4 assists. DraftKings has him as the favorite right now to win 6th Man of the Year at -165 with the next closest being De'Andre Hunter at +500.
Funny enough, Pritchard was 100% real about winning the 6MOY award. He elaborated that it’s not something he spends much time thinking about. Even with his numbers, he wants to win and do whatever it takes to win. As a result, Pritchard will fight hard around screens, help get guys open, and continuously make hustle plays.
The Celtics need it, and would likely be a worse team without him. Griffin knew this exact thing during that game of one’s. Pritchard is a stellar offensive player but is excelling in his role to the highest degree. At the end of the day, the NBA is about finding a niche, especially when one is coming off the bench.
Pritchard can be a dynamic scorer and shooter when needed. He can also be a hustle guy who energizes the rest of the team. Either way, the Celtics landed a gem and possibly one of the trademark pieces of their team for years to come.
The post How Blake Griffin recognized Payton Pritchard's potential years ago appeared first on ClutchPoints.
