Celtics' Payton Pritchard named NBA Sixth Man of the Year
Payton Pritchard had been named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year after an exceptionally productive season off the Boston Celtics bench.
For a Celtics team that is led by Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis in the starting five, Pritchard provided an instant scoring punch off the Boston bench throughout the 2024-25 season. He led all NBA reserves with 1,144 total points, 409 makes from the floor, and 255 makes from downtown. He was a sparkplug that opposing defenses struggled to contain, as Pritchard shot an incredibly efficient 47.2% from the floor and 40.7% from downtown, all while putting up a career-best 14.3 points per game.
Pritchard scored 20 or more points on 22 occasions during the regular season, including a 43-point explosion in a win over the Portland Trail Blazers. He hit 14 of his 20 shots and 10 of his 16 threes that night, leading Boston to a 128-118 victory.
With all of those points off the pine, Pritchard became just the third Celtics bench player to score more than 1,000 points in a season. He joined Hall of Famer Kevin McHale (who accomplished the feat three times) and Ricky Davis in that select group.
Pritchard did a lot of everything during his reserve minutes for Boston, ranking third among NBA bench player with 279 assists and fifth with 70 steals on the season. He set career highs in assists (3.5), rebounds (3.8) and steals (0.9) per contest during his fifth NBA season.
Pritchard beat out finalists Malik Beasley of the Detroit Pistons and Ty Jerome of the Cleveland Cavaliers to win this year's Sixth Man honors.
Celtics to win NBA Sixth Man of the Year
Pritchard is the fifth Celtics player to be named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year, and first since Malcolm Brogdon took home the honors in 2023.
McHale also won the award twice, in 1984 and 1985, and Bill Walton was the NBA's Sixth Man in 1986.
