UO release – EUGENE, Ore. – Payton Pritchard became the sixth Duck in the last four years selected in the NBA Draft. Pritchard’s selection on Wednesday also made Oregon the only college in the country with first round picks in the 2020 NBA, NFL and WNBA drafts. Pritchard, the 2020 Bob Cousy National Point Guard of the Year, was chosen by the Boston Celtics with the 26th overall pick. It is the fourth consecutive year that Oregon has had at least one player drafted and is the second time in the last three drafts that the Ducks have produced a first rounder. In a banner year for the University of Oregon athletic department that saw the Ducks become the first program in Pac-12 history to win conference titles in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball in the same academic year, Oregon also became the only school nationally to produce first round picks in the 2020 NBA, NFL and WNBA drafts. Joining Pritchard as 2020 first rounders are Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers) in the NFL Draft and Sabrina Ionescu (New York Liberty), Satou Sabally (Dallas Wings) and Ruthy Hebard (Chicago Sky) in the WNBA Draft. Pritchard becomes the first UO player drafted by the Celtics since Jim Barnett was selected by Boston as the No. 8 overall pick in the 1966 NBA Draft. Pritchard will become just the third Duck to play for the Celtics, joining Barnett and Jim Loscutoff, who was a member of six World Championship teams with Boston from 1956-64. Both men are in the UO Athletic Hall of Fame. Celtic general manager Danny Ainge was born and raised in Eugene and was a multi-sport star at North Eugene High School. The Ducks are now one of just eight programs nationally that has produced six or more NBA Draft picks over the last four seasons. Oregon is joined in that elite echelon of college programs by Duke (14), Kentucky (13), Florida State (7), Villanova (7), Arizona (6), North Carolina (6) and UCLA (6). Pritchard is the eighth NBA Draft pick during coach Dana Altman’s tenure at Oregon and the 53rd all-time pick in UO history. The 2020 Draft marked the first time Ducks have been selected in four consecutive years since 2001-04 when Bryan Bracey was picked by San Antonio (2001), Frederick Jones went to Indiana (2002), Luke Ridnour went to Seattle (2003) and Luke Jackson was chosen by Cleveland (2004). In addition to Pritchard, Oregon’s six draft picks in the last four years include Jordan Bell (Chicago), Tyler Dorsey (Atlanta) and Dillon Brooks (Houston) in 2017, Troy Brown Jr. (Washington) in 2018 and Bol Bol (Miami) in 2019. Brown was the No. 15 overall selection in the first round by the Wizards.
