BOSTON — The Celtics made only one minor deal prior to Thursday’s trade deadline, dealing Jaden Springer to the Rockets. The transaction was mainly for financial reasons as the C’s will save significant money due to luxury tax penalties.
But there’s also the human element of any trade. Springer has to uproot his life after spending the past year with the organization. Celtics president Brad Stevens revealed they were able to give Springer a heads up that a deal was coming, which is not necessarily always the case. Regardless, the C’s locker room lost a member of its team Thursday.
“Obviously, we’re gonna miss him,” Payton Pritchard said after the Celtics ‘loss to the Mavericks on Thursday. “Jaden’s an unbelievable person. We loved him as a teammate. But hopefully he gets his opportunity and he can showcase what he’s capable of doing in this league. He’s an unbelievable player, unbelievable defender. I think there’s definitely a place for him in this league.”
Springer was dealt to the Rockets, but he’s already been waived. That means he’ll look to find his next NBA home. He made $4 million this season. Trading him saves the Celtics roughly $15 million in luxury tax penalties. While Springer showed flashes over the past few weeks, he was a luxury depth piece at this point as he didn’t get consistent playing time this season.
Springer has upside. The fourth-year pro is still only 22 years old. There are college players getting drafted who are older than him. So even though it didn’t work out in Boston, a team could still pick him as a younger prospect still rounding out his game.
“Jaden was my little bro,” Jaylen Brown said. “I love his energy, I loved his fight, his will, just how he approached the game, his mentality. I wish him the best.
The Celtics will likely see one more roster tweak ahead of the playoffs. They’re set to sign Torrey Craig as a free agent on the buyout market as Stevens and the front office worked quickly after the deadline. They still have their 15th and final roster spot still available. It’s likely they won’t sign someone until later on. Waiting will save them some more luxury tax money.
“He’s not going to play in this particular circumstance and we have very limited opportunity to sign him after that,” Stevens said of Springer. “And so those are all factors that you have to consider. And it stinks that we have to do that with regard to him, but he’ll be okay because he’s a bulldog, he’s a good player.”
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