Brad Stevens Did It Again By Signing Payton Pritchard To Another INCREDIBLE Extension That Keeps Him In Boston For The Foreseeable Future
Pamela Smith. Getty Images.For the last few years, it has been the general consensus that Payton Pritchard is currently one of the best value contracts in the entire league.
Having already won 6MOY, the Celts were essentially getting starting guard production for the following prices
Not even 5% of the cap! Just unreal value on that rookie extension, no matter how you slice it. It's the exact type of deal every team is searching for in this new CBA world. Can you get starter-level production from low cost-controlled players? In this NBA climate, you pretty much have to if you're going to have a 35% cap hit player on your books (let alone two).
Entering this offseason, Brad Stevens & Co had a handful of extension decisions to make as the following players became eligible
- Neemias Queta
- Ron Harper Jr
- Jordan Walsh
- Payton Pritchard
Neemias Queta got locked in with a 4/$56M extension that starts next year, and slides him into around $12.5M in Year 1, which is slightly under non-taxpayer MLE money. Great value for a starting center.
Ron Harper Jr signed for 4/$13M. Another insane value contract that pays him under $4M in each of the 4 seasons. Jordan Walsh signed for 3/$15M, which again, is tremendous value. It's not a stretch to suggest that both players provide a level of impact that is higher than a $4-5M player. They fit the mold of the type of value that Pritchard had in his rookie extension deal (4/$30M).
When it came to Pritchard, this was the tricky one. As you can see above, Pritchard is an UFA in 2 years. The way his extension works is that it's basically a formula. It's determined by either 140% of the salary of Pritchard's final season ($8M) or 140% of the NBA's estimated average salary, whichever is higher.
Based on that math, his max was going to come in at around $22M, so the question for Pritchard's camp was does it make sense to sign whatever the extension price is from Boston, or take his talents to the market in 2 years if they believe a higher AAV is out there?
Our answer?
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Brad Stevens you beautiful son of a bitch, you did it again!
Make no mistake, this is yet again another great value extension. You're now looking at only 11% of the cap on an extension that doesn't even start for 2 more years
Considering all signs point to another leap on the horizon for Pritchard, it's hard to do better than that in terms of contract value. There's a strong chance that with this new role and pending leap, that Pritchard's market price would be higher than $22M starting in 2028-29, and now you don't have to worry about it. I don't know how they did it, but Brad Stevens & Co convinced him to take the bird in hand instead, and in the end everyone benefits. Pritchard makes over 2x the money, the Celts get a great value contract on the books and keep a core player locked in for the foreseeable future. Even if things change and you need to flip it, that price isn't hard to move at all for the type of player Pritchard is. It's truly a win/win for everyone involved.
And quickly, for all the fear-mongering about the Celtics new ownership group not being willing to spend money and blah blah blah, it's been a tough summer for that angle. They've handed out over $100M+ in extensions this summer. Almost like they are backing up everything they've said when it comes to spending. What a thought!
Personally, I'm just happy all of the extensions were taken care of this summer and nobody is entering the season with an uncertain future (like some other teams in the league). Kill that distraction before it even becomes a thing, and instead focus on the basketball. Love that for them, love that for us. Up next, we have Jayson Tatum, Paul George, Derrick White, Sam Hauser, and Baylor Scheierman next summer, and I imagine the majority, if not all, will be extended as well.
So shoutout Payton Pritchard. Nobody deserved that payday more than him, and now it's time to hoop