According to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Boston Celtics are trading Jaden Springer and their 2020 second-round pick to the Houston Rockets, with both sides also swapping protected second-rounders. This type of move has been highly anticipated for most of the seasons, as the Celtics are a heavy tax team and have now taken Springer’s $4 million off their books.
Prior to the deal, Springer had put together a string of solid games for the Celtics, including a four-steal performance that helped them earn a win over the LA Clippers. Now, the Celtics will have to fill a roster spot, as they are down to just 13 players on their active roster.
That said, this move certainly gave the Celtics a bit more financial leniency.
Celtics trade Jaden Springer to Rockets to dump salary
Keith Smith of Spotrac noted that while Springer only makes a little over $4 million, getting his contract off the books will save the Celtics roughly $15 million in actual savings.
He also noted that the Rockets will now get to take a chance on Springer (if they choose to keep him on the books) as a team that is not over the tax line.
For the past few weeks, Springer had been playing more and more minutes for the Celtics. He gave the Celtics some nice energy and defense off the bench, but his unproven offensive game ended up costing him actual opportunities.
The Rockets have been all-in on defense this year, and Springer will bring them more of that. He probably won’t crack their rotation, but at the very least, at just 22 years old, he still has some time to improve.
Boston decided to save some money ahead of the deadline, and considering they are the most expensive roster in NBA history, it makes sense that they wanted to dump some salary, especially if they didn’t believe in his long-term development.
Now, the Celtics will have another deal to make. As noted, they only have 13 players on their active roster, and the NBA minimum is 14. In the end, this will likely mean that one of their two-way players—Drew Peterson, JD Davison, or Anton Watson—will be elevated to a standard contract.
Seeing Springer go, especially in the manner that he did, may frustrate some Celtics fans who believed in him after his recent stretch of play, but the writing had been on the wall all year.
Now, he’s in Houston, and the Celtics saved some money.