Celtics guard Payton Pritchard has won the Sixth Man of the Year award, the NBA announced on Tuesday (Twitter link).
Pritchard beat out the other finalists, the Pistons’ Malik Beasley and the Cavaliers’ Ty Jerome, for the honor. Pritchard received 82 of a possible 100 first-place votes and recorded 454 total points. Beasley notched 13 first-place votes and 279 points, while Jerome earned two first-place votes and 91 points.
Pritchard posted career-high numbers across the board for the defending champions, averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 0.9 steals in 28.4 minutes per game.
Pritchard, who played 80 regular season contests, shot 47.2% overall and 40.7% from distance. He’s in the first year of a four-year, $30MM contract that he signed in October 2023, which now looks like a major bargain.
Beasley, playing on a one-year contract, averaged 16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.9 steals in 27.8 minutes per night and didn’t miss a game. The three-point specialist shot 43% overall and 41.6% from distance and was a major reason why Detroit more than tripled its win total.
Jerome, who barely played last season due to an ankle injury, averaged 12.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists in 19.9 minutes per game while making 70 appearances. He shot 51.6% overall and 43.9% from three-point land.
This is the second time in three seasons a Celtics guard has won the award. Malcolm Brogdon earned Sixth Man honors in 2023. The Timberwolves’ Naz Reid captured the award last spring.
In total, eight players showed up on at least one Sixth Man ballot this year, with five players receiving a first-place vote. The full results can be viewed here.
Scrappy little defender too. Another master stroke from Stevens. Pritchards contract, one of the best in league.
This just shows you that player development is not a straight line. Pritchard and Jerome had to overcome hurdles along the way. But, they made it.
Payton Pritchard was ready to play when he came into the league. What held him back were the coaches and the proven players ahead of him.
6th Man of the Year has always been a weird award to me. They single out “The best of the backups” and they single out the “best” player in the league with MVP. What about the “2nd Man of the Year?” Guys like Jalen Williams, Jaylen Brown, Karl-Anthony Towns and Damian Lillard?
Probably their reward is that they get guaranteed playing time and get paid a lot more lol
Bridesmaid gets no awards. But the person who made the cake gets massive recognition lol
Seen plenty of bridesmaids rewarded come wedding night. Or taken advantage of, your call. Fine line.
Congratulations, Peyton. Well deserved.
If anyone is planning on having kids, name them Peyton it seems like. Peyton Pritchard, Peyton manning, Shaun Peyton, Peyton place…seems like a recipe for success. And you can get PAY a TON of money lol
Variations of Jalen seem to work as well, especially in the NBA. In fact how about an All “Jalen” team.
PG- Jalen Brunson
SG- Jaylen Brown
SF- Jalen Williams
PF- Jalen Johnson
C- Jalen Duren
You could also have Green, Suggs, Smith and Jaylin Williams coming off the bench. Might have to throw in a few Jaden’s like McDaniels, Ivey and Hardy for depth. With head coach Jalen Rose.
Damn lol I stand corrected
IIRC Jalen is currently the most common name in the league.
The only John’s are Collins and Konchar.
Mike/Michael: Conley and Porter
@ Real insider. Surely John Collins gets extra points for being named after an alcoholic drink. John the Baptist is cold too.
John the Baptist hits a really tough 3 pointer and yells “ya been baptized” that would be epic lmao
Tom Collins is the beverage you’re thinking of
I’m surprised The Baptist nickname hasn’t stuck but I guess it’s wasted in Utah w/ the Mormons
John Collins is heavily Gin based, may not be an American thing, possibly English. And hahahahaha yeah not going to fly in Utah. Still a solid nickname.
Looked it up and as far as I can tell the original name is John Collins, but eventually started getting called Tom because it’s made with Old Tom Gin.
John Collins seems to now refer to the same drink but with Bourbon instead.
link to en.wikipedia.org
“It is essentially a variant of Tom Collins, evidently a latter name for the same drink.”
That’s a pretty good one with the Jalen’s. Let’s try it with another name to see how it plays out:
PG – ???
SG – Shaquille Harrison
SF – ???
PF – ???
C – Shaquille O’Neal
Ok, who wins the Jalen vs. Shaq face off? 😄
The better matchup? The all ìc team? They skew large but could trot out Doncìc, Bogdanovìc, Bogdanovìc, Sarìc, Vucevìc, Jokìc, Jovìc, Nurkìc, Marjanovìc and Topìc. Pull Dragìc out of retirement. All coached by Popovìch.
Jalen, Dalen, Talen, these are all made up names, LAKERS IN 5
Every name is made up
These one’s in particular have no meaning in the English language
That’s gotta be a record for the most misspellings of “Payton” in a paragraph.
Well not all of us rely on AI to write things for us. Call me old fashioned but I want to do the work myself. Okay I don’t spell every word right, but you get my unfiltered perspective — something a computer doesn’t have…
lol….I have noticed some very chatgpt like comments here and there lately from folks trying to sound knowledgeable.
People feel the need to act that way…it’s really just sad. Want a computer to poo and pee for you too? Why even be alive if you let AI do everything. Pretty disturbing. A lot of people are just totally lost…
You might be missing the huge benefits of ChatGPT. Individuals now have access to most all learning. In seconds on every topic. It’s breathtaking, awe inspiring! Try it, use it, while it’s still free.
Huge benefits? How about the benefit of learning things for yourself instead of relying on a computer?
Here’s a scenario were all familiar with. You’re dating again after a messy divorce. You look up conversation topics about registered nurses and what they do so you can impress this lady. Then your phone dies.
Well if you actually learned instead of listening through an earpiece like a 90s sitcom you could continue and maybe something would happen. Instead she dumps shrimp cocktail on your head and leaves early.
Not very awe inspiring, trust me…
Nice job Payton Pritchard. This man has worked on his game and it’s come to major fruition this year.
Turned into a great shooter, which is huge for a guy coming off the bench.
Gritty, tough, and hard nosed only gets you so far, but Payton has put in the time and is recognized. Great job.
Mazal tov!
He deserves it. Congratulations
Westbrook was the SMOY in my opinion.
Well deserved…
Don’t forget this Payton Pritchard epic 3 from the 2024 Finals..
link to youtube.com
I’m in the “half court shots are worth 4 points” camp.
Congratulations from Duck Nation, Eugene, Oregon