After a season the place his position with the Boston Celtics was significantly diminished, Payton Pritchard is seeking to get some additional basketball in through the offseason. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Pritchard might be becoming a member of the USA Choose Crew in Las Vegas the place they’ll prepare and scrimmage in opposition to the Crew USA roster. This comes forward of the 2023 FIBA World Cup kicking off within the Philippines, with Crew USA taking up New Zealand on August twenty sixth, 8:40 am EST.

Pritchard, 25, is coming into the ultimate 12 months of his rookie scale contract and can hit unrestricted free company subsequent offseason. After taking part in a key bench position through the Celtics 2022 NBA Finals run, the previous Oregon Duck noticed his minutes take a dive with the addition of Malcolm Brogdon and a brand new head coach in Joe Mazzulla. The modifications over the season led to frustration for Pritchard, and shortly sufficient rumblings of his need to be traded got here to the floor.

Initially, rumors emerged close to the NBA commerce deadline this previous season regarding Pritchard’s unhappiness in his position, and his need for a commerce resurfaced as lately as June 1st. The Suns had been reportedly considering his providers, and close to the 2023 NBA Draft, the Utah Jazz had been a staff linked to the sharpshooter earlier than Boston pulled off a number of trades and moved again into the second spherical to take Summer season League standout Jordan Walsh.

Quite a lot of Pritchard’s discontent was well-warranted, as he shortly plummeted to the underside of the guard depth chart behind Marcus Sensible, Derrick White, and Malcolm Brogdon. That form of scenario was unavoidable whenever you purchase that a lot pure expertise at one place; with out trotting out a LOT of three guard lineups, there was no strategy to organically produce sufficient minutes to maintain 4 guys who play the identical place completely satisfied.

Nonetheless, the scenario could also be very totally different in Boston following the Kristaps Porzingis commerce, with Marcus Sensible now seeking to be Tony Allen 2.0 in Memphis and clearing up minutes within the backcourt. Boston has performed their finest to fix fences with Malcolm Brogdon after virtually buying and selling him, and the most recent report from Heavy’s Steve Bulpett said the Celtics have little interest in dealing him. It very effectively could also be posturing, however with no Marcus Sensible within the fold, the Celtics shouldn’t be desperate to additional dismantle their backcourt except it brings in a clear-cut improve.

Whether or not or not Brogdon is staying in Boston, there’s now a window of alternative for Pritchard to get a foothold and vault again into the Celtics bench rotation. Pritchard becoming a member of up with the USA Choose Crew could also be indicative of the place his thoughts is at as he approaches a bounce-back season in 12 months 4.