Boston Celtics
“He’s relentless, so I like that about him.”
The Celtics are less than a week away from kicking off their 2025-26 season. As training camp winds down, Payton Pritchard was very complimentary of rookie guard Hugo Gonzalez’s preseason performance.
The 19-year-old rookie from Spain stuck out during Boston’s four exhibition games, making highlight reel plays as both a scorer and facilitator.
Pritchard, now entering Year 6 in the NBA, is one of the longer tenured Celtics on the roster this year. And like Gonzalez, Pritchard was poised for NBA minutes very early in his NBA career.
“He’s relentless, so I like that about him,” Pritchard said of Gonzalez. “He comes in and he seems fearless, and he’s a really good athlete. He’s ready to go in and pick up … he needs that confidence, that relentless, fearless type of composure.”
Gonzalez will benefit from the Celtics having less depth this season than they have the past few years. Since the Celtics partially dismantled their championship core this offseason, and given Jayson Tatum’s injury, there are more opportunities for young players and other Celtics stuck in smaller roles.
Gonzalez’s experience playing professional basketball overseas as a younger player doesn’t hurt either. Many past players from Spain and elsewhere in Europe have quickly acclimated to the NBA environment.
While Gonzalez will still need refining in many areas of his game throughout 2025, his length and defensive abilities could become an asset for Boston, which prides itself on intense defense across all five spots on the court. So even if Gonzalez’s shooting struggles limit his scoring ability early on, he could still carve out a role for himself in 2025-26.
As for Pritchard, he could be in line for a starting role this season. He, Derrick White, and Anfernee Simons will likely all receive big minutes as the consensus top-tier guards on Boston’s roster.
The Tatum-less Celtics will open the regular season on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.
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