Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) smiles at Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) while being congratulated by guard Payton Pritchard (11) during the second half at TD Garden.
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) smiles at Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) while being congratulated by guard Payton Pritchard (11) during the second half at TD Garden.
While it’s difficult to believe Payton Pritchard is entering his seventh season with the Boston Celtics, his vital role for the team could define the 2026-27 season, as Pritchard and the Celtics enter a new era without Jaylen Brown. The 28-year-old guard is expected to reach new heights alongside Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Paul George.
It’s a bet Brad Stevens and the front office were willing to make while parting ways with Brown this summer. After winning the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2025, Pritchard turned in his most productive season. He averaged career-best numbers in key statistical categories, including points (17.5), assists (5.2), and rebounds (3.9).
Now, Payton is on the cusp of entering his prime. And while a case could be made that the current Celtics roster is more talented than last season, the free-agent signings of Mike Conley Jr. and Mitchell Robinson have greatly improved the landscape of the Eastern Conference.
The Philadelphia 76ers, whose trade for Brown was followed by signing LeBron James to complement All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid, improved drastically. They also signed veterans Anfernee Simons and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, as a new potential juggernaut is emerging.
The same team that erased the Celtics’ 3-1 lead in their first-round, best-of-7 series to eliminate Boston 4-3 last season has reloaded to take down the defending champion New York Knicks.
The Miami Heat traded with the Milwaukee Bucks for two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis. Klay Thompson is also heading to South Beach after reaching a buyout with the Dallas Mavericks. The Detroit Pistons will look to build off their second-round playoff exit and 60-win regular season.
The Cleveland Cavs are entering their first full season with James Harden and added wing depth in their sign-and-trade with the Denver Nuggets for Peyton Watson. Tyrese Haliburton, who spent the entire 2025-26 campaign recovering from a ruptured Achilles, returns to the Indiana Pacers, who added size at the deadline last season in acquiring Ivica Zubac.
And from the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, the Washington Wizards’ Trae Young-Anthony Davis tandem will be complemented by NBA top prospect AJ Dybantsa and Alex Sarr. Entering their first season in 10 years without Jaylen Brown, how will the Celtics fare against some of the projected best teams in the Eastern Conference? Is Boston still a playoff team?
If so, can this version of the Celtics reach the upper echelon, where they’ve always seemed to find a way for four consecutive years? Payton Pritchard and the Celtics’ young players’ growth throughout the regular season will help answer those questions, as will Tatum, White, and George, who is entering his 17th NBA season and could be an ideal fourth option behind another stellar season from Pritchard.
This is the kind of dynamic team that excited the Celtics front office, rather than another season of the Tatum-Brown tandem, which, for them, had run its course in a first-round playoff exit.
Why Celtics will lean heavily on Payton Pritchard in 2026-27
Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11) reacts after a three point basket against the Philadelphia 76ers during the second half at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
The 2026-27 Celtics have 16 back-to-backs this upcoming season. And with newly acquired veterans Paul George and Mitchell Robinson in the mix, there’s a good chance one or both will most of the second leg of those back-to-back sets. Celtics’ Payton Pritchard will be relied upon to pick up the slack offensively, and so will others. However, it’ll be Pritchard setting the table for his supporting cast.
Depth is key for success in the NBA. Reserves such as second-year guard Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Scheierman, and Jordan Walsh supplied that much-needed depth last season. It’s a big reason why Jaylen Brown led the Celtics to 56 wins. Ron Harper Jr. tallied two 20+ point performances, including a career-high 27 points.
Gonzalez strung together defensive stops that would change the complexion of a game. In only his second season, Scheierman made 39.9% of his 3-point attempts. And Neemias Queta earned the starting center job. He averaged 10.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, including 230 offensive rebounds, eighth-most in the NBA. Conley Jr. will help Pritchard facilitate in a secondary role, while Robinson, who finished fifth in offensive rebounds last season, will help alleviate Queta’s responsibilities on the glass and on the defensive end of the floor.
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Although the Celtics offered Jaylen Brown and first-round picks to the Bucks in exchange for Giannis Antetokounmpo, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, players such as Gonzalez and Scheierman were reportedly discussed. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens wasn’t willing to part ways with his prospect wings.
He’s prioritized their growth as a key part of the Celtics’ future, with Payton Pritchard at the helm, leading his team’s youngsters, all of whom are expected to take a significant stride in their development this upcoming season. In games played without Brown, Pritchard’s proven to be a 25+ point scorer, which for some is drawing comparisons to a young Jalen Brunson before he joined the Knicks in 2022.
In games when Jaylen Brown was in street clothes, Pritchard averaged 25.2 points on 48.5/44.4/95.7 shooting splits, 7.0 assists, and 4.8 rebounds last season. It’s a 10-game sample size. However, if anything, it gave the Celtics front office a glimpse of what Payton can do without sharing the floor with an All-Star like Jaylen or Jayson Tatum, who missed most of 2025-26 before making his season debut in March.
Ahead of Tatum’s first full season since his ruptured Achilles injury in 2025, there will be plenty of games where Pritchard will be left to fend for himself, which can only help in his development in a leading role. In the wake of Brown’s shocking trade to the 76ers, the Celtics front office is betting on Pritchard to evolve into an All-Star-caliber player.
They’re willing to bet on Pritchard’s growth all-around, which he’s already demonstrated, and it has always been the goal for the 28th pick in the 2020 draft, as he alluded to recently, per CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning.
“I’m just worried about becoming a better basketball player,” Pritchard said. “And ultimately, that should hopefully lead to more success for our team, and me individually. Really, it’s whatever the team needs. I try to focus in that sense.
“Some of that stuff is out of my control; whatever the coaches decide, and all that. But being the best basketball player possible, adding to my game. Get better and better, become more efficient, will lead to more success.”
Brown also discussed the invaluable experience he learned from Brown throughout his first six seasons with the Celtics.
“I learned so much from him. So, I'm very grateful for our relationship,” Pritchard said. “He's obviously a tremendous basketball player. He took me under his wing at times, and I'm very grateful for it.”
Since the Celtics’ 2024 championship run, he’s improved in points and assists every season. Entering a new era, the Celtics are betting on Pritchard to take on a leading role and succeed, as his recent years have given them no reason not to.