Celtics guard Payton Pritchard remained with the team as Thursday’s trade deadline passed, but as his playing time continues to be sporadic, he admitted that he was hoping to be moved to a situation where he could play more regularly.
“I definitely was expecting and hoping [for a trade],” Pritchard told Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. “But you know, I [have to] look at the good things. We’re the best team in the NBA right now and we have a great team with really great players, so for me it’s an opportunity to learn and to keep growing. …It was an emotional day, but you know I’m here and I quickly changed my mind and I’m here to do a job to the best of my ability. For me, my mindset is just to come in every day and keep getting better. The only thing I can do is focus on that.”
With a backcourt loaded with talented players like Marcus Smart, Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon, coupled with Boston’s two frontcourt stars who also can be primary ball handlers in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Pritchard has found minutes in the rotation hard to come by. The third-year player out of Oregon has played just 12.6 minutes per game this year, down from 14.1 in his second season and 19.2 in his rookie year.
