Many NBA players keep themselves in shape during the offseason by playing in pro-am leagues. Others join the UCLA runs or similar environments. But Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard is different.
During a 2023 interview, Pritchard revealed that during the summer, he pays his friends, who play professional basketball overseas, to come home and guard him as hard as possible one-on-one.
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“I pay some of my homeboys to come, the ones that play overseas, I’ll pay them for the week to come out, and all they have to do is just guard me,” he said. “So I’ll put them up in a low spot wherever I’m at and pay them for the week, and then for those hours… we play little games to five — they get a certain number of stops — they win. They ain’t winning much.”
He has been doing it since his rookie year
Pritchard began this unique offseason regimen in 2020. He would call overseas professional basketball players, college players and former teammates and ask them to join him in Massachusetts for a summer run. To entice them to come over, he would pay them for a week, just to be his practice defenders — nothing more.
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“I’m playing 300, 400, maybe 500 possessions live. So you’re talking about a bag, that’s what I feel like I can have a live defender. And these dudes are playing overseas, so they’re good players. They’re trying to go after it. It’s like a job – I’m paying them to come out. I’m going hard; I need them to go hard. That’s been really good for me,” Pritchard added.
During the 2023-24 season, Payton’s playing time increased from 13.4 minutes per game to 22.3. His scoring average also nearly doubled from 5.6 to 9.6 points per game. This past season, Pritchard had his best year of his NBA career — he was named the league’s Sixth Man of the Year with averages of 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
Pritchard is not resting on his laurels
Pritchard continued his tradition this summer, conducting the yearly runs at his favorite place, Cape Cod, and even challenged himself more by holding more intense workouts. Former Oregon teammate Paul Wilson recently showed how intense their one-on-one games are.
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“This summer’s been a lot more three-on-three, trying to put him in different actions that he’s gonna be in, whether it’s wide pin downs or flare-slip situations, pick-and-roll stuff,” Brooks DeBisschop, Pritchard’s long-time friend who took part in the workouts, said.
“Some one-on-one stuff, but I think right now the biggest thing he’s trying to add to his game is just off-platform shooting, whether it’s coming off a handoff, running away from the rim and able to catch square and get a shot up, some of those difficult shots, and then he’s been working on his in-between stuff, which he’s already really efficient at, but adding a floater to his game and improving at that, and then just sharpening the stuff that he’s already good at,” he added.
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Some players spend their offseason playing golf. Others take the time to travel with family or friends before another 82-game grind begins. However, Pritchard is built differently. His methods may be unorthodox, but looking at his game today, everything has paid off handsomely.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.