Celtics guard Payton Pritchard wins NBA Sixth Man of the Year

Payton Pritchard (Erik Drost, Wikimedia Commons)

According to the Canadian Press on Tuesday, the the National Basketball Association have named guard Payton Pritchard of Tualatin, Oregon the Sixth Man of the Year. Pritchard is in his fifth year with the Celtics, and has been a reserve player to date. In his 347 career games, he has only had 17 starts.

In 2024-25, Pritchard averaged 14.3 points per game, 3.8 points per game, and 3.5 rebounds per game. He also has a field goal percentage of .472, three point percentage of .407, and a free throw percentage of .845.

Pritchard is the fourth Celtics player to win the award. He follows power forward Kevin McHale of Hibbing, Minnesota, who won in back-to-back years in 1983-84, and 1984-85, the late Bill Walton of La Mesa, California, who won in 1985-86, and shooting guard Malcolm Brogdon of Atlanta, Georgia, who won in 2022-23.

The Celtics have aspirations of winning the 2025 NBA Finals, and defending their championship from last year. They are the second seed in the East and finished he 2024-25 regular season at 61 wins and 21 losses. That is only three wins below last year’s 64 wins.

Even though Pritchard was worthy of the sixth man of the year award, and has become an instrumental part of the Celtics organization, one must question the necessity of this award to begin with. Why does the NBA present the award? I don’t see a second man, third man, fourth man or fifth man award. Why should the sixth man be so special? The NBA continues to reward mediocrity. We see it with the play-in tournament and with this particular award. What do you think?