Warriors seeking another Payton for their backcourt
The Warriors have asked Boston about their third-string point guard, who is having a rough year. Maybe they think the team just needs any guard named Payton?
The Warriors need veteran help and big men. Apparently they’re also interested in less veteran, smaller men.
New: The Warriors are among the teams that have inquired about Payton Pritchard's trade availability league sources tell MassLive. However, the Celtics have shown no interest in moving the guard to this point. More: https://t.co/6nilQbivZW
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) January 18, 2023
The 24-year-old Pritchard is having a rough season for the Boston Celtics, after the acquisitions of Derrick White and Malcolm Brogdon have cut down on the minutes available to the unfortunately-nicknamed “Fast PP.” Yes, those are his initials, and yes, he’s relatively speedy, but that nickname implies that leaking out on the break means something very different to him.
Pritchard is a career 40% shooter from three-point range, though he’s slumped to 33% this year. Maybe Fast PP needs to get into the flow of the offense? What else is he good at? Dribbling.
Pritchard would be insurance against another injury to Steph Curry, or an absence from Jordan Poole, or Ty Jerome running out of eligibility on his two-way contract - he has 23 games left. But he wouldn’t seem to solve the Warriors’ biggest issue, which is defense. Pritchard certainly tries on that end, but he’s listed at 6’1” and 185 pounds.
He’s basically the opposite of Gary Payton II, an unreliable shooter and dribbler who was a superstar defender and a highlight-reel dunker. Pritchard has dunked only once in his three-year NBA career. Really, this guy makes no sense for the Warriors, except to infuriate the portion of the fan base that’s already frothing mad about the Warriors’ “two timelines” strategy and Poole’s turnstile defense.
This might simple be the usual trade deadline scuttlebutt: Teams routinely ask about all kinds of players, and Boston claims they’re not interested in moving Pritchard. This only seems like a story because the Warriors are playing the Celtics on Thursday night. It might really fire up the hostile Boston crowd, too. The only thing they hate more than Draymond Green is losing a white player.