Joe Mazzulla wouldn’t comment Wednesday on Payton Pritchard’s new contract extension, which the team had yet to announce when the head coach sat down for his pregame news conference.

But he had no reservations about praising the undersized, uber-competitive guard, whom the head coach views as the embodiment of Celtics culture.

“I think when people think of a Celtic, he’s one of the guys that first comes to mind,” Mazzulla said before Boston’s preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets at TD Garden.

That approach landed Pritchard — one of the NBA’s most underpaid players relative to his production over the last two seasons — a reported two-year, $44.2 million extension that includes a third-year mutual option. ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the 28-year-old’s new deal on Tuesday, and Pritchard seemingly confirmed the report by sharing it on his Instagram page.

In a subsequent social media post, Pritchard wrote: “Imagine if I listened to the people who said I couldn’t,” referencing the long list of doubters he had to defy to become a consensus All-American at Oregon, an NBA Sixth Man of the Year and a key member of an NBA championship team as a 6-foot-1 ball-handler without elite athletic traits.

“He just plays with a chip on his shoulder, but doesn’t have an ego. And I think that’s a balance that’s difficult for people to be able to have,” Mazzulla said. “Like, if you tell him he’s starting, if you tell him he’s coming off the bench, if you tell him he’s playing 20 (minutes), if you tell him he’s playing 30, the chip on his shoulder never changes. He doesn’t need the affirmation to be an elite competitor. …

“But also, because he’s a competitor, I don’t expect him to be happy about every decision that is made. I don’t expect him to be happy that he has come off the bench more games than he started. But he’s smart enough and egoless enough, but competitive enough, to know that that may give us the best chance to win over the course of time. We have a bunch of guys like that, but he’s at the top of the list.”

Pritchard showed that combination of prove-you-wrong competitiveness and team-first attitude last season, when he accepted a midseason move back to the sixth man role he starred in in 2024-25. He had posted career-best numbers to that point, but after the Celtics shipped out third guard Anfernee Simons at the trade deadline, Mazzulla shifted him from the starting lineup to the bench to balance Boston’s lineup.

He proceeded to score 20-plus points in six of the next seven games and finished the season as Boston’s third-leading scorer (17.0 points per game) behind Jaylen Brown. Beyond his proven prowess as a 3-point shooter, Pritchard also ranked among the NBA’s most efficient isolation scorers, excelling at creating space around the basket and in the midrange against much taller defenders.

“I think for his size, he has the ability to create space, create separation,” Mazzulla said. “There’s very few times that he gets his shot blocked, so obviously he has the ability to create space, and I think he has the ability to create space below the free-throw line, which you see a lot of guys inside have to, when they’re in there, force a layup or it’s difficult for them to pass out. He can get layups, but he can create separation below the free-throw line, which gets them a little paint jumpers. And he can do it from the perimeter, as well.”

Hornets head coach Charles Lee, an assistant on Boston’s 2023-24 championship team, said he was “really happy for Payton.”

“He works so hard, and when you say what drives him, No. 1, I think he just loves the game — like, genuinely loves it,” Lee said pregame. “I don’t want to speak for him; I haven’t been around him in a while, but you (can) probably take the money out of it. He just loves the hoop. And so every day to be able to lace it up, to compete, he finds great joy in that.

“I remember coming in in the morning, and he’s having a blast over there doing his ball-handling and barefooted drills on the side of the court and stuff. He’s just a maniac, and he loves it. So I think that’s what drives him. … But really impressed with the work that he’s put in to carve out this type of niche in the NBA.”

With Brown now in Philadelphia following an offseason trade, Pritchard could take on an even larger role in Boston’s offense this season. That doesn’t necessarily mean a return to the starting lineup, however.

Pritchard came off the bench in each of his first two preseason appearances, with Mazzulla choosing to start Jordan Walsh alongside Derrick White, Jayson Tatum and Mitchell Robinson on Saturday against Philadelphia and Wednesday against Charlotte.

Pritchard is the fourth Celtics player to receive an extension since the end of last season, joining center Neemias Queta (four years, $56 million) and wings Walsh (three years, $15 million) and Ron Harper Jr. (three years, $9 million).

Nearly every player on Boston’s roster is under team control through next season, with only third center Luka Garza and reserve guard Mike Conley set to hit free agency this coming spring. (Paul George has a player option for 2026-27; Baylor Scheierman and Hugo Gonzalez have team options.)

Off the rim

Tryout guard Devin Carter missed his second straight game with an illness. The former Providence College star is one of five non-roster players competing for the Celtics’ one open two-way contract spot.