Amidst the Celtics offloading star forward Jaylen Brown for Paul George, the franchise has been under serious scrutiny for not properly filling the talent gap left behind.
But the Celtics may not be looking to replace the production through the open market, but rather from within.
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Boston is expecting guard Payton Pritchard to be the one to carry the load left by Brown moving forward, and the franchise hopes for him to take a Jalen Brunson type of leap this season according to Yahoo Sports’ Tom Haberstroh.
The Celtics are banking on Payton Pritchard making a Jalen Brunson-type leap, per @tomhaberstroh
“The Celtics trading [Jaylen] Brown is a bet that [Payton] Pritchard is their in-house version of New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, a diminutive player who didn’t fully show his… pic.twitter.com/zEJHqyUn7P
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) July 2, 2026
When Brunson departed the Mavericks for the Knicks he jumped from a sixth man level contributor to one of the top guards in the league.
Hoping Pritchard progresses into Brunson at this point is wishful thinking.
Pritchard has been a solid contributor since the Celtics drafted him back in 2020 and had a career best season last year averaging 17 points while shooting 37.7% from three.
However in order for Pritchard to ascend to the likes of Brunson he will need to add an additional 10 points per game while proving to be amongst the most consistent players in the league.
Patrick Dowd is a contributor for Ball Exclusives. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
