Payton Pritchard is still the odds-on favorite to win NBA Sixth Man of the Year. But Malik Beasley is closing the gap, and he made some headway Wednesday night in Detroit.
Beasley racked up 26 points off the bench while making 6 of 11 3-pointers to power the Pistons to a 117-97 win over the Boston Celtics. Pritchard had a strong offensive night of his own (18 points and 5 of 8 3-pointers) but Beasley had the upper hand -- and he let the Celtics know by busting out several celebrations throughout the night.
.@mbeasy5 hit him with the too small pic.twitter.com/fQmedSs8ZS
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) February 27, 2025
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While Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla downplayed Malik Beasley's theatrics after the game -- "The only way that we control that is by defending him better," Mazzulla said -- Pritchard admitted Beasley's on-court trash talk gave him a little extra fuel, particularly as the two battle for Sixth Man of the Year.
"I don't really look at it like it's a competition because I'm not going-head-to head; it's team-on-team," Mazzulla told NBC Sports Boston's Abby Chin at Celtics shootaround on Friday.
"But obviously once he started talking at the end and he was chirping a bit, so then -- I listen to those things, and it's just gonna motivate me more. So, I appreciate it."
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Pritchard has always played with a chip on his shoulder, so while he's usually not one to initiate in-game banter, he admitted he gets fired up when opponents call him out on the court.
"I wouldn't say I'm necessarily like a talker or I'm gonna start things first," Pritchard said, "but I definitely like it when people do it first. It gets me going. So, I enjoy it."
Pritchard currently has -180 odds to win Sixth Man while Beasley is at +300, per DraftKings. But the two players have fairly similar counting stats, with Beasley owning the edge in points per game (16.7 to Pritchard's 14.1) and Pritchard contributing more rebounds per game (3.8 to 2.9) and assists per game (3.5 to 1.7).
The Celtics are nine games ahead of the Pistons in the standings, while Beasley has also started 12 games to Pritchard's zero. So if both players continue at their current pace, Pritchard still has the inside track on the award -- especially now that Beasley gave him some extra motivation.