Payton Pritchard, a reserve sharpshooter for the Boston Celtics, battled through a rough season in which he was buried in the Celtics’ rotation due to all of the team’s backcourt depth in 2022-23, but after an explosive offseason in terms of shaking up the storied ball club’s roster, plenty of playing time opened up.

And while Boston chose to compensate the Oregon alum for his services and possibly for his issues the previous season, they did so on a contract that is still considered as team-friendly across the league, with Pritchard slated to earn a cool $30 million over the following four seasons.

Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus, who graded the deal a “B+,” was among the pundits who liked the West Linn native’s new contract.

“The Celtics snuck in the smallest deal of the summer with Pritchard, whose role projects to increase this season after the departures of Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon (even with the addition of Jrue Holiday),” writes Pincus.

“For some players, the goal is to stick around. Like Nassir Little last year with the Portland Trail Blazers, Pritchard locked in real security at a viable number. The Celtics have a heavy payroll with limited flexibility, and his average salary ($47.5 million) is in the range of year’s (projected) smaller exceptions like the $8.1 million room mid-level exception (RMLE), $5.2 million taxpayer mid-level (TMLE) and the $4.7 million bi-annual exception (BAE).”

“Since Boston is likely to be over the NBA’s second apron (roughly $190.8 million), the team won’t have any of those exceptions, which makes paying Pritchard more of a necessity,” he adds.

“The Celtics could have waited, but it’s relatively low risk at that price. The 25-year-old locking in guaranteed money is a win,” adds the B/R cap expert.

“Still, since he’s committing to a discounted salary, he probably should have fought for a player option on the final season for the chance at an early exit and a more-rewarded third contract.”