The NBA's Sixth Man of the Year race is over
The NBA's Sixth Man of the Year won't be named until late April, but the voting process for the award will be a mere formality.
Payton Pritchard clinched the award over the weekend when he dropped 22 points in Boston's 115-113 win in Brooklyn. With Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday struggling to find their stroke, shooting a combined 3-of-15 from three, Pritchard came off the bench and almost single-handedly rescued the Celtics from an upset loss.
But Pritchard's award was sealed not by his performance against the Nets but by his consistency all season long. When he drained his 219th three of the 2024-25 campaign, he set an NBA benchmark for most threes off the bench in a single season in history.
After making history Saturday night, a humble Pritchard tried to downplay his accomplishment.
"It just means I did my job off the bench at a high level and hopefully I can continue to do that," Pritchard said, via NBC Sports Boston. "There's no records or rewards I ever look at. It's all about self-improvement. Looking at every game, what can I do to keep growing and bettering myself, and ultimately that's all that matters to me. Just trying to take another step, so hopefully I can keep that going."
With 220 made threes in 67 games, Pritchard ranks seventh in the league, trailing only Tyler Herro, Derrick White, Tatum, Stephen Curry, Malik Beasley and Anthony Edwards. More impressively, he's the only player in top-20 to make each of his threes off the bench, and his 41.8 percent ranks second among players who've drained at least 200 threes.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla has brought Pritchard off the bench even on nights when his starters have been sidelined. The strategy has paid dividends, with Pritchard feasting against the opposition's second units and maintaining one of the best net ratings in the league. Pritchard has been a +348 on the floor this season, which ranks third on the Celtics, and his net rating of +9.3 is tied for 15th-best in the league among players averaging at least 25 minutes.
Those are metrics typically associated with an All-Star-level starter on a winning club. Pritchard is the player who makes the Celtics an overwhelming favorite to repeat., and in the process has become the overwhelming favorite to win Sixth Man of the Year.
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