Brad Stevens has made at least one move before every NBA trade deadline since taking over as Boston Celtics president of basketball operations, and it appears that streak will continue.
The Celtics are trading Jaden Springer and their 2030 second-round pick to the Houston Rockets, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. Boston and Houston also are exchanging heavily-protected second-round picks, per Charania.
Springer is making just over $4 million this season on the final year of his contract but could have cost Boston roughly $16 million against the cap due to repeater penalties stemming from the luxury tax. The deal gives the Celtics $15.4 million in tax savings, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Trade impact: Boston/HoustonCelticsTax penalty: $65.6M to $50.2M2 open roster spotsRocketsJaden Springer: $4M, RFA 2025
The Rockets are acquiring Springer with part of their $12.8M non-tax ML
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 5, 2025
The Celtics acquired Springer ahead of last year’s trade deadline in a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers that sent a second-round pick to Philly. He’s played sparingly for Boston over the last calendar year, but the 22-year-old guard had seen an uptick in minutes over the last month.
Springer delivered arguably his best game with the Celtics in a Jan. 22 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, contributing eight points and four steals over 20 minutes of action. He appeared in 26 games for the C’s this season, averaging 5.4 minutes per game in those stints.
Springer is a strong defender and should fit well on a gritty Houston team led by ex-Celtics head coach Ime Udoka. But he never quite made sense as a long-term fit in Boston with Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Payton Pritchard ahead of him on the depth chart, and dealing Springer allows Boston to alleviate part of its large luxury tax penalty.
The Celtics now have two open roster spots, and they’ll need to fill at least one before the regular season ends. Boston could pursue a player on the buyout market — or perhaps Stevens has another move up his sleeve ahead of Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline.
