Payton Pritchard will be joining a long list of past Celtics guards to have suited up for the USA Select Team next month. According to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com, the fourth-year guard will play with the team in Las Vegas as they practice and scrimmage against the Team USA roster before that group suits up for the FIBA World Cup later in August.
Pritchard will face off against a Team USA roster that is loaded with talent at the guard position including Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, Austin Reaves, Josh Hart and Anthony Edwards.
Pritchard is coming off a frustrating season with the Celtics where he openly discussed wanting a bigger role, whether it was in Boston or a new team. The Celtics have set up that opportunity for him in Boston next season by trading away Marcus Smart as part of a deal for Kristaps Porzingis. The domino effect of that trade should result for more minutes for Pritchard off the bench after he posted career lows in games played (48) and minutes (13.4) last year.
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“I really feel for a guy like him because there are guys that work out and there are guys that are obsessed with it, and he’s obsessed with it,” Brad Stevens said earlier this offseason of Pritchard. “That’s kind of his personality. He works at it. He’s a really good player as I’ve told him many times this year, everybody knows you’re a really good player, not only in this building but around the league. They understand your circumstances, that we have Derrick White, that we have Marcus Smart, that we have Malcolm Brogdon. And in the playoffs you only go seven or eight deep in a lot of cases.”
Team USA training camp opens in Las Vegas next month.
