The Celtics aren’t likely to swing any major moves ahead of the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline, both because their roster is one of the league’s best and because their current luxury tax situation severely restricts the type of trades they’re permitted to make.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Boston will be silent throughout trade season, however.
President of basketball operations Brad Stevens could look to make some minor tweaks to the Celtics’ bench, as he did last year with a pair of deadline deals for depth players. And the player most likely to be included in a potential trade is one of those 2023 acquisitions: guard Jaden Springer, who saw a surprise spike in playing time during Thursday night’s 117-108 loss to the Bulls.
Springer has been unable to crack Joe Mazzulla’s rotation since coming over from Philadelphia for a second-round draft pick in February, but the Celtics head coach inserted him in the first quarter against Chicago, giving the 22-year-old extended run with Boston’s regulars for the first time this season.
Before Thursday, Springer had only played in the fourth quarter of blowouts. He saw first-half minutes just four times last season after his move to Boston, with two of those coming in the final two regular-season games while the Celtics rested their starters.
Boston had its full starting five available Thursday but was missing a chunk of its bench, with Sam Hauser (back injury) and Xavier Tillman (illness) both unavailable and Drew Peterson, Baylor Scheierman, JD Davison and Anton Watson all on G League assignments.
Mazzulla said he subbed in Springer to “match the speed that (the Bulls) play with overall.” He played a season-high 13 minutes in the loss, tallying four rebounds and missing both of his field-goal attempts (a layup and a corner 3-pointer).
“I thought he does a good job on the offensive glass and his individual defense and just kind of wanted to match the speed there,” Mazzulla said postgame. “I thought he played well.”
Springer has the eighth-highest salary on Boston’s roster ($4 million in the final year of his rookie contract) but ranks 14th in minutes played this season. If Mazzulla and Co. don’t believe he can climb the depth chart — which would require some development on the offensive end, as Springer is a career 21.4% 3-point shooter and has scored 42 total points in 169 minutes for Boston — trading him could either provide some financial relief or help the Celtics add a more proven depth piece.
Since the Celtics are above the second apron of the NBA’s luxury tax, Springer is essentially costing them $16 million between his salary and the accompanying tax penalties. Their second-apron restrictions also bar them from signing any free agent for more than the veteran minimum, taking in more salary than they send out in a trade, or aggregating salaries in a trade (e.g. swapping one player making $2 million and another making $4 million for a player making $6 million). They also can’t sign any midseason buyout player who was making more than the mid-level exception ($12.8 million).
One of the few avenues Boston has for adding to its roster is trading Springer for a player making $4.2 million or less. The Celtics are a bit lean on the wing behind Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Hauser, so exploring upgrades there could make sense. The team also could package Springer with draft-pick compensation to get his contract off their books (though, as a second-apron team, they are not allowed to send out cash in any trade).
The Celtics entered the season with one open roster spot and have yet to fill it. Lonnie Walker, who was competing for that 15th spot in training camp, currently is playing in Lithuania, and 2023-24 Celtic Oshae Brissett remains a free agent. Boston could eventually fill that vacancy by converting the contract of two-way player Peterson — who’s shown promise in his seven appearances this season — to a full NBA deal, as they did with center Neemias Queta last spring.
Either way, Springer’s usage will be worth monitoring over the six weeks before deadline day.