Celtics

Payton Pritchard to join USA Select Team this summer

Pritchard will join several of the NBA's best young talent and gain international experience.

By Luke Scotchie

July 21, 2023

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Celtics guard Payton Pritchard will join the USA Select Team this summer, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The USA Select Team is a group of young American players that will help Team USA practice for the upcoming FIBA World Cup. Pritchard and his Select Team teammates will travel to Las Vegas with Team USA, practice with, and scrimmage against them.

They will be the first people called up to replace a member of Team USA in the event of an injury. Because of such a possibility, these players are not chosen by accident. They are chosen for their skill and promise as NBA players.

By joining the USA Select Team, Pritchard will team up with some of the country’s most talented young basketball players, including Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Houston’s Jalen Green, Sacramento’s Keegan Murray and Oklahoma City duo Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. They will be coached by Orlando Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley, who coached Paolo Banchero’s dominant rookie season this year.

Pritchard, while not on the same level as some of his teammates, has been a good player for the Celtics. He has averaged 15.7 points on 40 percent shooting from the three-point line over his four-year career so far.

The Celtics drafted a steal in Pritchard when they took him 26th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft. His addition to the USA Select Team proves his worth amid his desire for a larger role in Boston.