March 28, 2026, 12:47 p.m. PT
During his four seasons with the Oregon Ducks, point guard Payton Pritchard, an in-state product from West Linn, made his mark on the program.
Along with being a key contributor of a Final Four run as a freshman, Pritchard departed as the program’s all-time leader in assists and finished second in steals. He was named the PAC-12 Player of the Year and was a consensus All-American as a senior during the 2019-20 season, establishing himself as a legend in Eugene.
Now in his sixth season with the Boston Celtics, Pritchard is making his mark in the NBA. He was named the 6th Man of the Year last season and had another prestigious moment on Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks.
Pritchard was dominant from all over the court, converting on 13 of 23 shots from the field and six of 11 from three-point range. He also added four free throws on his way to scoring 36 points and becoming the first Celtic since 1970-71 to record multiple 35-point games off the bench.
To make that mark even more difficult, Pritchard started 49 of Boston’s 71 games this season as the team began the season with superstar forward Jayson Tatum sidelined with an Achilles tear. But with Tatum back in the lineup, Pritchard went back to the bench, where he’s continued to flourish.
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Though he isn’t starting the games on the court, the former Duck is still playing a considerate amount in large part to his effectiveness and career-high averages of 16.9 points and 5.2 assists per game. He was known as one of the clutchest players in college basketball during his time at Oregon and has continued that trend in the pros, with his Celtics teammates routinely looking for Pritchard for buzzer-beating opportunities.
Just six years into his career and clearly still ascending, look for Pritchard to continue to make his mark on not only Celtics history, but NBA history.
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