October 15, 2026 at 5:40 AM UTC
NewsCeltics Extend Payton Pritchard on Two-Year, $44.2 Million Deal With 2029-30 Mutual Option
Boston locked in its Sixth Man of the Year days before the Oct. 19 deadline, with a deal that starts in 2028-29 and ends in an unusual mutual option.
The Boston Celtics have agreed to a two-year, $44.2 million contract extension with guard Payton Pritchard, ESPN's Shams Charania reported Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. The deal is fully guaranteed and includes a mutual option for 2029-30. It comes days before the Oct. 19 extension deadline and a week before Boston opens the 2026-27 season on Oct. 20 on the road against Detroit.
The extension begins in 2028-29. Had the sides not reached an agreement by Oct. 19, they could not have revisited negotiations until July 2027.
The numbers
The salary schedule shows how the new money fits around Pritchard's current contract. He is set to earn $7,767,857 this season and $8,303,571 in 2027-28. His pay then rises to $21.25 million in 2028-29, with the mutual option for 2029-30 valued at $22.95 million. Those two figures add up to the reported $44.2 million.
Because the option is mutual, both Pritchard and the Celtics would have to agree to it. If either side declines, he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2030. That structure is what most caught the attention of league observers. Yahoo Sports, citing NESN, reported that experts have praised the deal, with one calling it a "bargain contract."
ESPN's Bobby Marks reports that Pritchard will be eligible to sign another extension starting in October 2028. That gives the arrangement a built-in checkpoint before the option year arrives.
Why Boston moved now
The timing follows from the rules. Marks wrote that Oct. 19 is the deadline to extend veterans with two years remaining on their contracts, not counting an option year. It is also the deadline for rookie-scale extensions and for teams to cut rosters to 15 players on standard contracts. Waiting past Monday would have pushed Pritchard's talks back by nine months, until July 2027.
In that light, the deal gives Boston cost certainty on a rotation player who has become more valuable each year. The Celtics selected him 26th overall in 2020, and he was part of the team that won the 2024 championship. In 2025 he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year.
What the production supports
Last season, Pritchard averaged career highs of 17.0 points while adding 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 32.4 minutes per game. He started 50 games after starting just three the year before, a notable shift for a player who has spent most of his career coming off the bench.
His value is anchored in volume shooting. He averaged 7.1 three-point attempts per game last season, the 18th most in the league, and made 37.7% of them. That ranked 11th among players with that many attempts. For his career he shoots 39.4% from deep. His best scoring night came March 5, 2025, when he made 10 threes and scored 43 points with 10 rebounds. Earlier, on April 9, 2023, he recorded his first triple-double against Atlanta, with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists.
His role in a changed rotation
Pritchard is projected to return to the bench this season. Derrick White is expected to start at point guard, with Baylor Scheierman at shooting guard. Jaylen Brown now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers, which changes the shape of Boston's roster. The Celtics are likely to lean more heavily on Pritchard's shot creation and perimeter shooting in reserve minutes.
The starting-lineup projection suggests that his 50 starts last season may not be a baseline. The contract, however, does not depend on a starting role. Its value rests on whether he can keep producing as a high-volume three-point shooter and secondary playmaker.
What to watch
Two questions will outlast opening night. The first is whether Pritchard maintains last season's production in a role that may again be primarily off the bench. The second is how the mutual option plays out. The other terms are fixed, so the 2029-30 season is the only part of the contract that could change.
The extension does not take effect until 2028-29, so Pritchard's pay over the next two seasons stays modest relative to what follows. The jump from $8.3 million in 2027-28 to $21.25 million in 2028-29 is the largest single change in the deal.
For now, the news is that Boston has secured a key guard before the deadline. Whether the structure proves to be a bargain will depend on how Pritchard performs once the larger salaries begin.