Springer trade reaction: Celtics well-stocked regardless of deadline moves originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics made the unsexiest of NBA trade deadline moves on Wednesday, salary-dumping Jaden Springer to the Houston Rockets in order to slightly lessen the tax burden on a team that’s spending big on its championship core.
We’ll always have “The Jaden Springer Game,” as the 22-year-old guard basically rescued the Celtics from a head-slapping loss to the undermanned Clippers last month in Los Angeles. He’ll forever be a footnote to Banner 18, if only for how Jaylen Brown had one arm slung around Springer’s shoulder — and the other around teammate Jayson Tatum — at the center of Boston’s celebratory team photo on the Garden floor after finishing off the Mavericks in the 2024 Finals.
The reality is that Springer was break-in-case-of-emergency depth when the playoffs rolled around. Even after Wednesday’s move that shipped him out, the Celtics still have 12 players from last season’s title team who accounted for 97.6 percent of last those 2024 playoff minutes.
The Celtics, at least until they fill out their two vacant roster spots, are saving more than $15 million in tax penalties by moving Springer. Moves to save money are never ideal, but it’s hard to balk too much when Celtics ownership paid $44 million in tax penalties a year ago, and are still on pace to pay $50+ million this season.
In a vacuum, the Celtics would gladly nurture Springer’s development. He has an obvious defensive skill set. His offensive game is a work in progress; Springer knocked down as many 3s during Boston’s two-game stint in L.A. last month (four) as he did in his other 41 regular-season appearances for the team over the past two seasons.
The Celtics did have to sacrifice two second-round draft picks for the year-long test drive of Springer. That they were not immediately able to utilize his slightly-elevated $4 million salary to fetch an above-the-minimum piece is a tiny disappointment. Alas, the second-apron rules that prohibit aggregating players in trades limited their pathways to fully maximizing his salary.
The question becomes, how does Boston fill out its vacant roster spots? The easiest pathway is to reward someone like Drew Peterson and elevate him from a two-way contract, much like the team did a year ago in calling up Neemias Queta.
Boston can sift through the NBA’s bargain bin — both players currently on low-budget deals and players who land on the buyout scrap heap (so long as they didn’t previously make north of $12.8 million) after the yearly NBA swap-a-thon is complete.
Maybe you call New Orleans about Javonte Green. Maybe you phone the Hawks about Garrison Matthews. Maybe you make an international call to see how Lonnie Walker is doing overseas. Oshae Brissett is still unsigned after resuming play in the G-League.
The bottom line remains that, if Boston needs to lean on any players slotted in spots 10-15 in the postseason for anything beyond an occasional cameo, it would be a surprise. The Celtics’ title hopes hinge on the play of their top nine staying healthy and focused.
The good news: With less than 24 hours before Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline, no other Eastern Conference team has done anything seismic to improve their chances to push the Celtics. Most of that activity has been reserved for the squads out west.
The Bucks kicked one of their championship brethren to the curb by dealing Khris Middleton to the Wizards, all to roll the dice on Kyle Kuzma. While Middleton’s knees are jello at this point, Kuzma’s empty-calorie scoring won’t move the needle much for a team that will go as far as Giannis and Damian Lillard can carry it.
Stevens has been a dealer at the deadline, most notably adding Derrick White to Boston’s core a couple years back. But, of last year’s acquisitions, Springer is now gone and Xavier Tillman has been glued to the bench for most of the 2024-25 season. It’s not easy to find upgrades given 1) The cap restrictions on this team and 2) The talent the Celtics already possess in spots 1-9.
But that core worked out just fine for the Celtics last year.
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