The 2024-25 NBA, for the limited time it has played so far, has been friendly to Native American white players.
As we all know, after decades of historical evolution, the white players who once represented the mainstream of the NBA have long retreated into the role of the underdog. In recent years, even if there are a few outstanding representatives, it is also Jokic Donchich, a Native American white player who has become almost a rarity in the NBA.
According to manual statistics, there are only 55 white NBA players from the United States out of a total of more than 500 players in the NBA, and with the retirement of the Gordon Hayward, only one of the Kevin Love has ever been an all-star.
So far this season, however, there have been plenty of good performances from Native American whites, with Chet Holmgren a contender for defensive player of the year before his injury, raptors’ Grady Duecker and Nuggets’ Blauen led the league in scoring gains, and Hero of Alexandria became the Heat’s best player, the Austin Rivers also continues to play an important role as ball handler for the Lakers.
But none of the above shines as brightly as a six-foot-two little guard who hasn’t started for the Celtics this season, Peyton Pritchard, the Heat had just scored 25 points, five rebounds and four assists on 10-for-17 shooting, making Pritchard’s fourth straight 20-plus game, even in a team as powerful as the defending champion Celtics, Pritchard has emerged as a force to be reckoned with this season.
The little white man, who had competed with Tatum as a student against Jeroen English surname, had become one of their most effective helpers.
As he did when he joined the NBA in early 2020, Pritchard was once quite ordinary, even as a student.
His talent was so limited that when he joined Westlynn High School in Oregon at the age of 14, he was only 5′ 7”, almost the smallest player on the team, and looked so skinny, even his appearance is a bit ordinary, throw in the crowd without any memory points.
But since then, Pritchard has been honing his skills. He has been known by fans as the“Garage king” and has been living in his garage since high school, he started his training with a specially made heavy ball, got up at 5:30 every morning, stuck to it day after day, and even practiced dribbling until his fingertips broke and he bled, but for Pritchard, put the tape on and keep practicing-because he knows better than anyone that there is only one way for Pritchard to succeed in basketball.
His freshman year, he helped Westlynn win a state championship that it hadn’t won in 16 years, “He wasn’t our MVP that season, but he was probably the most important player,” said Eric Vikla, the team’s coach, as Richard sought to make the older players more comfortable, he made a lot of sacrifices in his rookie season, but it is believed that he will be the undisputed leader for the next three years.
Westlynn High has a natural advantage. The school is adjacent to the headquarters of Nike, the world’s largest sports brand, so when Nike launches some of the nation’s best high school invitational events, westlynn always had a chance to be a part of it, which is why Pritchard had his first chance to make a name for himself in .
In December 2013, Pritchard and his team competed in one of the competitions, and after a disappointing semi-final defeat, in the three or four finals, they faced Witney Young of Chicago, led by Ace High School student Jalil Okafor.
With less than 10 seconds left in the game, the Little Pritchard rushed to the basket, but the two defenders had almost tackled him, but with great fighting spirit, he snatched the ball back from the free throw line, and immediately turned over the jump shot, hit the rebound shot with only 1.9 seconds left in the game, and finally, it was also with this shot, they killed a strong opponent, which made the team build up a strong confidence, and it also made Pritchard’s name known to more high school scouts.
Pritchard began to be seen as Oregon’s best point guard since Damon Stoudemire, and was inducted into the U-17 Draft Camp. That was a big achievement in itself, of course, but Pritchard was eventually cut, and he looked at the 12 finalists and saw the tall figure of Jayson Tatum.
From his training base in Colorado Springs, Pritchard returned to Oregon, where the gap between him and his peers only made him work harder. In their senior year of invitational play, they once again faced off against a semifinal opponent, this time against Wheeler High, the nation’s No. 1, whose superstar was Jeroen English surname.
Wheeler was well-prepared. They pounced on Pritchard throughout the game, trying to“Get him out of the game,” but the basic dribbling skills they developed in the garage helped Pritchard get out of the way again and again, and deliver the ball to the teammate accurately. Jeroen English surname had 25 points and 15 rebounds and Pritchard had 11 points and eight assists, but the result was 70-62 as Westlynn High beat the nation’s No. 1 team.
They became the unbeatable team in Oregon, winning state championships in all of Pritchard’s four years, and of course, pritchard, who averaged 23.6 points and 6.8 assists in his senior year, became Oregon’s Player of the year and later joined the NCAA’s elite basketball academy, where he University of Oregon his hometown team. But before he goes to college, he has an important game to play. At the 2016 Nike Basketball Summit, the world’s young talents were routinely divided into the U.S. and world teams, this time, Pritchard didn’t miss out on the U.S. squad, and he and Jayson Tatum got a chance to play together.
Pritchard joined Oregon at the height of the team’s 2016 success, with Jordan Bell and Dillon Brooksville leading the lineup and Taylor Dorsey at the back, along with the likes of Dillan Ennis and Chris Boucher, Oregon was seen as the favorite to win the national championship, but he has spent much of his freshman year working alongside the stars, averaging just 7.4 points and 3.6 assists per game, Field goal percentage less than 40 percent.
That year, Pritchard followed behind the Big Brothers, and the team did have an aggressive season. They made it all the way to the final four of the NCAA championship, but under the eyes of more than 70,000 spectators, losing by a point to the University of North Carolina, Pritchard was unhappy with his 1-for-5 shooting of the day. Shooting, must practice shooting, his special training began gradually out of the garage, toward the stadium.
Pritchard never got a chance to return to such a grand stage in Oregon, or rather, his last year was denied. In the 2019-20 season, the 24-7 University of Oregon was consistently in the top 20 and briefly in the top five, but the outbreak halted the season and the NCAA Tournament was canceled, this eventually led to Pritchard, a senior, ending his college career and failing to win the championship. But at least Pritchard, who was considered an unlikely star in his freshman year and had to play all the time at the NCAA, turned in an average of 20.5.5.5 assists that year, both figures put him at the top of the PAC12 division, and he averaged 2.83-pointers on 41.5 percent shooting from 3-point range — after Tatum and Jeroen English surname played in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, pritchard, who is nearly 23, has finally become their teammate again.
The NBA world is brutal. Pritchard’s first year, he did pretty well, averaging 7.7 points per game and shooting 41.1 percent from 3-point range. He lived up to the team’s expectations of his shooting and became a valuable substitute as a rookie. But in the NBA world, Pritchard’s status doesn’t rise linearly with age. In the 2022 offseason, the Celtics traded for Malcolm Brogdon, with Markus Smart and Arif Dirlik WYETT already on the team’s roster, Pritchard became the fourth guard and the Celtics reached the NBA Finals, but Pritchard’s average time per game ranked 12th on the team, as if it were dispensable fringe.
“I tried to show confidence, but it was a dark time, and there were some frustrating moments, including a limited opportunity, where I didn’t perform well enough myself,” Pritchard said, “But I wake up every morning and I look at myself in the mirror and I tell myself, only I know how much I put into training, only I know what I can do.”
Pritchard’s turn came just before the start of another season, when the Celtics traded Brogdon for Jrue Holiday and smart for Porzingis, the Celtics were strong, the Pritchard position was there, and even the Brad Stevens, as the team’s president, immediately gave Pritchard an early contract extension, make sure he’s part of the team’s future.
The NBA World is a wonderful place, too. Pritchard was a big part of the 2024 Celtics’ cup-winning journey, and in the playoffs he became “The Greek god of half-time buzzer shots.”, four years ago in the university failed to win the championship trophy, in the NBA’s“Senior” season got the opportunity to realize their dreams.
But even better, Pritchard has a chance to continue his education after his senior year in the NBA. In 2024-25, the fifth year of Peyton Pritchard’s NBA career, the real explosion began.
You Can’t explain how Pritchard has managed to do all of this. He’s still only six-foot-four, but he can easily take on his own size and even a slightly taller opponent, his offensive success rate is terrible in every area of the pitch.
So far this season, in the reasonable area of the offensive basket, Pritchard shot 70% , in the restricted area, the reasonable area outside the small circle, shooting rate of 81.8% impressively; in the distance he shot rate of 53.3% , … And the bottom corner is a terrifying 60.7% …
As a result, Pritchard is not only the most prolific three-point shooter in the NBA today, he’s also the most prolific solo player in the NBA, outscoring Kerry Owen by 1.22 points per round, cam Tomas, second only to the Nets in the league, shot the fifth-highest two-point average in the league at 67.9 percent and the 10th-highest true-field average at 67.8 percent.
Why? How is it that a player of this size and power can see defense as nothing in front of the entire NBA?
Pritchard smiled sheepishly on ESPN. Have you heard that the Celtics have a training program this season called Stop Pritchard.
“Holliday, Wyett, Tatum, they all stood in front of me. At first, I couldn’t even get past Holliday. He could easily block me by himself.” What are you talking about, Pritchard, how many people can the NBA pass in front of Holliday.
So the story of Pritchard is such a simple story, that all the results come from training, all the leaps come from training, as an untalented basketball player, pritchard is full of ideals for life, but he has no illusions, but 120% of the enthusiasm into the day-to-day training.
God rewards diligence.