Why the Celtics are getting a bargain on Payton Pritchard's two-year, $44.2 million contract extension

With an NBA championship and Sixth Man of the Year Award already under his belt, Pritchard is set for an even bigger role in Boston this season Upward mobility in the NBA contractual market is pretty rare. A player's financial destiny is often tied to where he is drafted. Where that player is drafted frequently determines the opportunities he gets early in his career, which in turn determines his rookie extension, what he's eligible for on his next deal and so on. One team-friendly contract tends to beget several, and nowhere is that truer right now than it is for Payton Pritchard. On Tuesday, he and the Boston Celtics agreed to a two-year, $44.2 million contract extension, according to ESPN.

All told, that will guarantee him around $85 million in NBA earnings through the first 10 seasons of his career. That is by no means a bad outcome, on paper, for the No. 26 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Just consider it in comparison to the No. 4 pick, Patrick Williams, who has locked in over $130 million in career earnings thus far. Williams has, at no point, been a better NBA player than Pritchard. He is now a fringe rotation player for the Chicago Bulls, a lottery team. But he was a high draft pick with great physical