Payton Pritchard Views Fellow Celtics Sharpshooter As ‘Brother’

Boston Celtics ownership and the franchise’s front office did a trememdous job keeping nearly everyone from its championship roster together for a re-run in 2024-25, opening the door for continued bond-building and brotherhood strengthening.

Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser, both key pieces to the upcoming raising of Banner 18, played alongside one another off Boston’s bench last season. Pritchard, the predominant second-unit ball-handler, and Hauser, the go-to reserve unit 3-point shooter, complemented eachother and operated efficiently. They each had their moments, both during the regular season and the playoffs, are poised to make a leap and contribute to another hopeful title quest and continue to grow close as more than teammates.

“That’s like my brother,” Pritchard told reporters during Friday’s practice, per CLNS Media. “We’re different in our skillsets a little bit. Obviously, we’re both great shooters. I think Sam is one of the best, if not up there with the best in the league. I put (the ball) on the ground a little bit more so our skillsets kind of match. He’s moving without the ball a lot more, especially when we’re playing together. I can find him. … We’re just always expanding our games together.”

Pritchard and Hauser made their respective debuts in similar circumstances. Pritchard was selected 26th overall in 2020 and Hauser went undrafted in 2021, but the two both didn’t have roster spot awaiting their arrivals. Hauser split rookie year time with Boston’s G League affiliate and Maine, working toward an opportunity while Pritchard was backseated throughout the 2022-23 season, making the undersized guard’s future (very) questionable at the time. Nevertheless, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens extended a token of the organization’s gratitude in its homegrown veterans.

Boston signed Pritchard to a four-year, $30 million extension before the 26-year-old avergaed a career-best 9.6 points, playing in all 82 games of the regular season. Hauser, weeks after the Celtics popped champagne and plastered TD Garden with confetti in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, too signed a contract extension, agreeing to a four-year, $45 million deal. Once questionable, small-name prospects, Pritchard and Hauser have become champions poised for another run, this time as title-defenders, with servicable roles awaiting their impacts on the floor — giving a few of the team’s newcoming youngsters examples to be emulated.

“I feel like for me, every year I learn new ways how to take care of my body, what I need to eat, how much I need to rest to perform at my best,” Pritchard said, per CLNS Media. “That’s just stuff you don’t know as a young player. I feel guys like Baylor (Scheierman) or any of them, the young ones, you got great vets to learn from, learn what they’re doing, pick up from them and hopefully you learn quickly rather than later.”