NBA Draft Prospect Breakdown: Payton Pritchard

Who doesn’t love a hometown hero?

Oregon’s very own, Payton Pritchard, is exactly that and he’s just getting started. At West Linn high
school, Pritchard won state all four years, won Gatorade Player of the Year honors, and received interest
from multiple power five programs.

The pathway to success for Payton was there since berth considering his father, Terry Pritchard, played
football at Oklahoma and his mother, Melissa Pritchard, was a gymnast at Oklahoma. However, without
Payton’s drive to get better, he wouldn’t be where he is today.

"I used to tell Payton, you're not going to be the most talented guy," Terry said. "Especially at your
position, you've got to outwork people. And I think that part of it is his best attribute, to me."

Considering the Oklahoma ties in the Pritchard family, Payton originally committed there, but after
mulling over his decision, he decided Oregon was the better fit. Family is something Payton holds in a
very high regard. While he has family in Oklahoma, it was important to have his parents at as many
games as possible.

"When you go away for college, you want to experience it; everything's new and coming at you so fast,
and it's fun," Payton said. "And, you know, you live that life. And then once you mature a little bit and
understand what you really want, you know, family's a big part — over everything.”

Deciding to stay in-state was the best thing for Payton’s legend. Over the course of his four years in
Eugene, Payton reached a final four, won Pac-12 Player of the Year, and has become the winningest
player in program history.

As Payton prepares to embark on his next journey, the question now is how will his game translate?

The short answer is very well.

In today’s NBA, there’s huge emphasis on floor spacing, creating, and pace.

Payton excels in all three categories.

During this four-year tenure at Oregon, Payton shot an impressive 38 percent from distance and they
weren’t just spot up jumpers. Payton’s basketball IQ and ball-handling ability allows him to beat you in
various ways. He can do it in ball screen scenarios, in isolation with this patented step-back, or by
running off screens without the basketball.

With the importance of the stretch four, a lot of teams try to have at least four outside shooting threats
on the court at once. If you have someone like Payton running the offense, defenses will have to pick
their poison in a high ball screen situation because you can’t go under the screen, but if you don’t, his
possesses elite vision to find the roller over the top or the open shooter in the corner if you hedge.

It’s just a matchup nightmare.

Despite being asked to carry more of the scoring load this past season, Payton still averaged 5.5 assists
per game. He became Oregon’s all-time assist leader, which just adds to his legend. When provided with
more space and faster pace, there’s no reason why Payton’s game won’t translate.

In this draft class, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone with a better handle and feel for the game.
Payton is a player every NBA team would love to have as another playmaker. When you look at potential
comparisons, I keep coming back to Fred VanVleet. The skill set is there, but more importantly, Payton
has intangibles that you just can’t teach. He’s simply a winner.