“Once I started wearing them, I’m like, ‘I’m never taking them off.'”

Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard became the first NBA player to fully embrace teammate Jaylen Brown’s new 741 shoe line, ditching his familiar Nikes to sport Brown’s Performance Rover this season.

Now Pritchard is steamrolling toward the Sixth Man of the Year honor and Brown is thrilled for his teammate.

“I think it would be great [for Pritchard to win Sixth Man in 741s],” said Brown, who debuted a new white colorway for his Performance Rover on Friday night at an event that featured Bill Nye the Science Guy at Boston’s Museum of Science.

“The willingness for Payton to just trust me. He knows how I am, he knows how thorough I am. He’s never asked about the technology of the shoe, he’s never asked about what I’ve done. He just tried them on and played in them, and he loves them.

“He just trusts me. He knows I’ll put everything [into the shoes], I don’t leave no stone unturned. I put all the technology, I put everything that I needed to make sure that I would be safe into it.

“He’s been out there balling in them, you know what I mean? He’s been good. He had 28 [points against the Sixers], first game off the break, straight from Turks and Caicos in the 741.”

With help from shoe-tracking site KixStats.com, we parsed the data for Pritchard’s performances this season in the 741 Performance Rover, versus the various models of Nike shoes he’s worn consistently throughout his career. (This season he’s sported the Nike Sabrina 2 and Book 1).

Here are the splits:

While Pritchard’s counting stats are higher in the Nike sneakers, the team’s winning percentage and his plus/minus soars in 741s. What’s more, Pritchard is more efficient shooting in the 741.

It should be noted that Pritchard’s four best outings of the season, based on the box score-catch-all game score metric, were all in Nikes and all in the first 25 games of the season. But he’s had some loud nights in the 741 ever since. That includes the 28 points against the Sixers to start the second half of the season and a 25-point outing at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks earlier this month.

Pritchard, an Oregon native who has spent most of his basketball life in Nikes, said he had full faith that Brown had produced a quality shoe.

“I trusted that he put a lot of time and effort into them, to make them a really good shoe,” said Pritchard. “And once I tried them out, I was like, ‘Wow, this is incredible.’ Kind of a Kobe feel with a lot of good bounce to them and very comfortable.

“So once I started wearing them, I’m like, ‘I’m never taking them off.’”

Pritchard, who sported the 741 Performance Rover for the first time in Boston’s second game of the 2024-25 season, had a Nike-heavy run in mid-December, as Boston limped to a 2-4 record with him in that shoe. Ever since a Christmas Day loss to the Philadelphia 76ers while wearing a pair of Nikes, Pritchard has been almost exclusively in the 741.

In fact, that’s the only shoe he’s worn over the past 16 games, a stretch that includes five 20-plus-point nights and seven games with three-plus 3-pointers. Boston has won nine of its last 10 games overall, and other NBA players seem to be taking note of the success that Pritchard and Brown are enjoying in their 741 kicks.

Celtics second-year forward Jordan Walsh has dutifully split his allegiance between Boston’s two superstars, abandoning the Converse kicks he wore at the start of the season and essentially bouncing between Jayson Tatum’s Jordan Tatum brand and Brown’s 741 Performance Rover.

Former Celtics swingman Javonte Green ditched his preferred Nike Kobes to wear a pair of 741 kicks with the Pelicans on Feb. 12. Washington’s Bub Carrington had the 741 Performance Rover on his feet two nights later during Rising Stars Game at NBA All-Star weekend. San Antonio’s David Duke Jr. wore 741 on February 21.

Pritchard is the heavy favorite for Sixth Man of the Year. Houston’s Amen Thompson had been his chief competition but he has been a starter for the Rockets since mid-December. Detroit’s Malik Beasley, Cleveland’s De’Andre Hunter, and Minnesota’s Naz Reid are chasing Pritchard.

Beasley is averaging a career-best 16.6 points per game in heavy minutes for the Pistons, while Hunter is still figuring out his role in Cleveland while playing four fewer minutes per game since being dealt from Atlanta at the trade deadline.

Pritchard’s impact is undeniable regardless of his shoes. He was among the NBA leaders in net rating last season, and he’s at a still-robust +10.9 in his 1,555 minutes this season. Pritchard is fourth on the Celtics in total minutes and his presence has allowed the Celtics to pace veteran guard Jrue Holiday.

Despite coming off the bench, Pritchard ranks eighth in the NBA in 3-pointers made at 179. The only players ahead of him are Anthony Edwards (235), Beasley (226), Steph Curry (208), Donovan Mitchell and Tyler Herro (196), along with teammates Jayson Tatum (194) and Derrick White (181).

Among the NBA’s highest volume 3-point shooters — 300-plus attempts this season — Pritchard ranks fifth in percentage (41.2 percent) trailing only Norman Powell (42.8), Darius Garland (42.5), Beasley (42.3), and Zach LaVine (41.9).

The Celtics have a deep history when it comes to the Sixth Man of the Year award, an honor now named after John Havlicek. From Kevin Michael and Bill Walton in the 1980s to Malcolm Brogdon in 2022-23, the Celtics have long prioritized bench contributions.

Pritchard winning Sixth Man of the Year might just be the start of the story around Brown’s 741 shoes.