Celtics player's trade fate may be sealed after preseason attempt to dump him

The Boston Celtics have a full roster. They brought back almost everybody from last year’s squad, most notably re-signing Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Sam Hauser to extensions this summer. But even past that, Boston brought back guys like Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman, and Neemias Queta to fill out the bench.

Since everything looked the same up and down Boston’s roster, fans clung on to the one shiny new player the Celtics added—Lonnie Walker IV. The Celtics added Walker to their training camp roster on an Exhibit 10 contract, allowing him to play during the preseason. As Jake Fischer of The Stein Line noted at the beginning of the season, the Celtics wanted to keep him around.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype backed that information up with his latest trade intel drop, but he also added a small tidbit about Springer’s future in Boston.

Jaden Springer probably won't be back with Celtics

In addition to the fact that the Celtics tried to trade Springer at the end of the preseason, Scotto also noted that Boston is unlikely to offer him a qualifying offer at the end of the season. That means this will likely be Springer’s final year with the Celtics.

“With Springer out of the rotation and given Boston’s luxury tax situation, he’s unlikely to receive a qualifying offer this summer as well,” Scotto wrote.

Springer hasn’t played much for the Celtics this year. His most recent appearance was a six-second stint for Boston on Sunday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White were out, and Joe Mazzulla put Springer in the game in the final moments as the Celtics were playing the foul game.

Outside of that, Springer has only played in five other games this season. The most time he’s gotten in a game this year was 8:21 in Boston’s 30-point win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Heading into next year, Boston could choose to look elsewhere for the bottom of their roster. JD Davison is in the final year of his two-way contract eligibility, and Drew Peterson and Anton Watson could be standard contract candidates, too.

Letting Springer walk would allow the Celtics to save a little bit of money, as every dollar counts because of how far over the tax they are with their current roster.

With how little Springer has played this season, combined with Boston’s preseason interest in moving him, it seems as though his fate may be sealed. He’ll be a trade candidate this season and, barring a change, probably won’t be back next year.