CLEVELAND — The Celtics have made trade deadline moves for the past three years with Brad Stevens at the helm, albeit of varying impact. A splashy move like acquiring Derrick White (2022 trade deadline) is essentially off the table this year for Boston, barring moving a core member of the team’s rotation. League sources tell MassLive such a move is very unlikely to happen.
However, Stevens has always liked to make some adjustments around the edges of the roster. Two years ago he brought aboard Mike Muscala. Last year, Xavier Tillman and Jaden Springer were new additions. With the end of the bench this year, there is some room for improvement, along with some incentives to move at least one player on the roster.
If the Celtics elect to make a move on Thursday, what players could be on the move? Let’s look at the three top candidates.
Jaden Springer: The 22-year-old guard was a trade candidate as early as this preseason through no fault of his own. He failed to earn a rotation spot out of the gate and his $4 million salary leads to upwards of $16 million in repeater tax penalties, a sharp increase over a player making the league’s minimum.
Springer has emerged as a useful contributor for Joe Mazzulla in the past few weeks with an impressive defensive performance against the Clippers. However, that play is probably not enough to justify his price, particularly when the team could find an offensive upgrade during his spot.
The question now with Springer is just how they elect to move him if cutting some luxury tax penalties is a priority. If the team wants to simply dump his salary, they may need to add a sweetener with a second-round pick. Springer has some promise but it’s unclear if some team would just take him on as a rental at this point.
The Celtics could also elect to use Springer as matching salary if they elect to target a player making more than the minimum. In this scenario, they could take back a player earning up to $4 million. Either way, he looks like the mostly likely candidate to be dealt on the roster heading into Thursday.
Xavier Tillman: The big man has not seen meaningful rotation minutes in months after falling out of the rotation in November. His offensive numbers have plummeted in a limited role (25 percent sooting, 18 percent from 3) with Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta passing him by in the rotation. He’s not costing the Celtics much on the veteran’s minimum but he could be the odd man out if the team tries to find a more mobile big or better shooter in this spot (Guerschon Yabusele?). The case could be made that Tillman’s defensive versatility could still come in handy in the playoffs so the team would only move on him if a better fit emerged. If they find that player on the trade market or potentially via a buyout, getting Tillman’s salary off the books by the trade deadline will be a priority. The team won’t want to simply cut him and eat the pricy repeater tax penalties.
Jordan Walsh: The 20-year-old has been given a few chances this year but hasn’t shown much progression offensively in year two. The team still clearly believes in him but he could be used as a sweetener in a potential offer for an upgrade. Walsh remains under team control for another two years beyond this season and there are only light guarantees for that year. He’s certainly the least likely player to be moved on this list but a name worth watching regardless if an upgrade is made or another wing is brought in.
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