Celtics player breaks NBA three-pointer record, and it probably won’t stand for long

Payton Pritchard’s new NBA record after trade request shows Celtics can do no wrong

It’s impressive that Wayne Ellington’s NBA record for most made three-pointers in a season off the bench lasted for six years given the rapid uptick in percentage of field goal attempts from three-point range for teams year-over-year. When Ellington drilled 218 three-pointers off the bench for the Miami Heat during the 2017-18 season, NBA teams across the league averaged 29 three-point attempts per game. That number has gone up in every ensuing season.

Now in the 2024-2025 season, NBA teams attempt 37.5 three-pointers per game on average, according to Basketball-Reference. Almost all of the NBA’s three-point records are probably going to fall in the coming years, and Stephen Curry recently breaking the 4,000 career made threes mark is just the start.

Ellington’s record fell on Saturday night as the Boston Celtics took on the Brooklyn Nets. Celtics guard Payton Pritchard buried his 219th three-pointer off the bench for Boston, putting him in the history books. Watch the record-breaking shot here:

It wasn’t long ago that Pritchard requested a trade from the Celtics. The former No. 26 overall pick out of Oregon, Pritchard didn’t see a pathway to the starting lineup after Boston acquired Derrick White, and wanted to be moved. Telling him no turned out to be one of Brad Stevens’ best decisions ever. The Celtics won the 2024 NBA championship, and will be one of the top contenders to win it again this year. Pritchard is the favorite to win Sixth Man of the Year this season.

Will Pritchard’s record last as long as Ellington’s did? It does take some extraordinary circumstances to break a record like “most three-pointers ever made coming off the bench” because most teams would insert that type of player into the starting lineup. Pritchard was uniquely positioned to break this record because: a) Boston was never going to start him over White and Jrue Holiday, b) Boston’s offensive identity is shooting lots of threes. The Celtics attempted 48.1 threes per game, tops in the NBA by a lot.

Still, I’ll bet Pritchard’s record doesn’t last long. For one, Detroit Pistons shooter Malik Beasley is already sixth on the all-time list for most made threes off the bench this season with 201. If Pritchard missed some games at the end of the season, it’s conceivable it could be broken this season by Beasley.

It’s only a matter of time before NBA teams are averaging 40 three-point attempts per game on average. Records are made to broken, as they say, and Pritchard finally got Ellington.

Cheers to Pritchard for a tremendous season in what’s becoming an NBA career. Pritchard was a stud college player at Oregon, who I ranked as the fifth-best player in the 2020 NCAA tournament that never happened because of the pandemic. I foolishly doubted his NBA translation because of his lack of size and athleticism. When the Celtics took him at No. 26 overall, I gave the selection a C grade. Whoops.

Pritchard has a championship, a new NBA record, and soon he’ll have a Sixth Man of the Year award on his mantle. It seems like the Celtics just can’t do wrong under Stevens’ watch.