The Boston Celtics are reportedly signing guard Payton Pritchard to a two-year, $44.2 million extension, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The deal also includes a mutual option for the 2029-2030 season, and it is fully guaranteed. The Celtics selected Pritchard with the 26th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. He helped them win the 2024 NBA Championship and was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2025. Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Basketball league for the 2026-27 NBA season The Boston guard has been used off the bench throughout his career, but he started 50 games last year, a significant increase from 3 the year before. Pritchard averaged a career-high 17 points per game last year. He also averaged 3.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 32.4 minutes per game. Pritchard is once again projected to come off the bench this season. Derrick White is expected to start at point guard, with Baylor Scheierman at shooting guard. The Celtics will likely rely more on Pritchard off the bench this season, since former guard Jaylen Brown now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers. Despite being a first-round pick, the guard has carved out a role as a depth player. He tended to fly under the radar, but had his first breakout game on April 9, 2023, against the Atlanta Hawks. Pritchard finished with 30 points and hit nine 3-pointers. He added 14 rebounds and 11 assists in his first-ever triple-double. The guard’s best scoring output came on March 5, 2025, when he drilled 10 3-pointers and finished with 43 total points. Pritchard also grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double. He has 16 games in which he has made at least five 3-pointers. Pritchard is shooting 39.4% from beyond the arc in his career. Last year, he averaged 7.1 3-point attempts per game, the 18th most in the league. The Boston guard’s 37.7% three-point percentage ranked 11th-highest among players who attempted that many shots from beyond the arc. Pritchard and the Celtics will open up the 2026-2027 NBA season on Tuesday, October 20, on the road against the Detroit Pistons.

Former 16-year NBA veteran J.R. Smith has been arrested in Texas and charged with assault causing bodily injury - family violence, something first reported by TMZ and confirmed by NBC Sports through the Hunt County Sheriff's Office. As of this writing, he remains in custody after being arrested on Tuesday, Sept. 29, and no bond has been listed. No details have been released so far about what led to the arrest. Hood County, whose seat is Granbury, is about 70 miles southeast of Dallas. Smith, 41, has been arrested before: He was briefly jailed during his playing days in 2009 and pled guilty to reckless driving tied to a fatal car accident in New Jersey. Smith played 16 seasons in the NBA, won Sixth Man of the Year in 2013 while playing with the Knicks, and won two titles: One with LeBron James and the Cavaliers in 2016 and one in the bubble with the Lakers in 2020. His time with the Lakers was the last time he played in the NBA. Last Spring, Smith graduated from North Carolina A&T State University, where he was a walk-on member of the golf team. He has played in some amateur golf tournaments, and still appears on some NBA podcasts and shows talking about and analyzing the league.