Jaden Springer Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Springer, Stevens, Cofield, Raptors Rebouding, Bona

March 11th, 2025 at 7:27pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens notified Jaden Springer that he might be dealt before last month’s trade deadline. Springer wound up going to the Rockets and expressed appreciation for Stevens’ candor.

“Brad told me like before it actually (happened),” Springer told Brian Robb of Masslive.com. “He gave me a heads-up like, ‘Hey, something might happen,’ so, I’m happy he gave me like a heads-up. I appreciate Brad for bringing me in, let me get a championship with them guys and be on the team, so I appreciate them. I got love for them, so it’s pretty cool.”

Houston waived Springer and he wound up signing with Utah, first on a 10-day deal and then on a three-year contract. Springer didn’t play against his former team on Monday.

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

Remy Cofield, the Celtics’ director of scouting, is leaving the NBA to become the general manager for the Arkansas athletic department, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweets. Remy has been with the Celtics organization since 2013, including a stint as GM of their G League affiliate, and served as the scouting director for nearly five years. John Calipari is in his first season as the basketball coach for the Razorbacks.
There were plenty of missed shots in the Raptors-Wizards game on Monday and Toronto grabbed plenty of rebounds. The Raptors set a franchise-record with four players securing at least 10 rebounds in the 15-point victory, The Associated Press notes. They also set a franchise record with 73 rebounds. “It would not be fair to say that we did anything different (Monday) than we do the whole season,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “Yes, we are focusing a lot on offensive rebounding, and we also focusing on offensive rebounding in many games.”
Sixers big man Adem Bona posted a 14-point, 15-rebound, five-block game against Utah on Sunday, then scored 12 points in 23 minutes while making all of his field-goal attempts against Atlanta on Monday. Bona believes he’s also gotten better with terminology and his defensive coverages, as he told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I would think one is communication,” the rookie said of his biggest growth. “Understanding the NBA terms, communicating what is called, and how to guard the pick-and-roll. I played the pick-and-roll completely different in college. Coming into the NBA and trying to adapt to that, that’s pretty big for me.”

Northwest Notes: Jazz, Porter, Gordon, Conley

March 10th, 2025 at 8:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Jazz have four players with non-guaranteed contract for next season — KJ Martin, Svi Mykhailiuk, Jaden Springer and Johnny Juzang. Will they retain any of them?

Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune examines each player’s case, concluding that their futures depend on what else the Jazz do with their roster this summer and whether they’ll have trade value if their contracts are retained. Springer, for example, hasn’t played much, while Mykhailuk has already passed through a number of organizations.

We have more from the Northwest Division:

The Nuggets have only lost four games since the beginning of February and all have come against playoff-bound clubs – the Lakers, Bucks, Celtics and Thunder. Forward Michael Porter Jr. says they have to be more efficient against the elite teams in order to win the championship. “Things that you get away with against mediocre teams are not things that you’re going to get away with against the best teams,” he told Bennett Durando of the Denver Post (Twitter link). “And I think that we haven’t done a good job this year at winning those games against some of the top teams.”
Forward Aaron Gordon wasn’t available for the Nuggets when they faced the Thunder again tonight. He was out due to right calf injury management and a left ankle sprain, Vinny Benedetto of the Denver Gazette tweets. Gordon left the matchup against the Thunder on Sunday during the first quarter due to calf tightness, Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman tweets.
Mike Conley was reinserted into the starting lineup against Miami on Friday ahead of Donte DiVincenzo. It turned out to be a good move by Timberwolves coach Chris Finch, as Conley produced 15 points in 25 minutes, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic notes. Conley remained in the lineup against San Antonio and turned in another sharp performance with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists with no turnovers in 23 minutes. Conley has one year remaining on his two-year, $20.75MM contract.

Contract Details: Two-Ways, Springer, Champagnie, Miller, Spencer, More

March 7th, 2025 at 4:27pm CST by Luke Adams

A flurry of two-way signings occurred prior to Tuesday’s deadline and many of those players who received two-way contracts in the week leading up to March 4 agreed to two-year deals.

Hoops Rumors has confirmed that Patrick Baldwin and Seth Lundy of the Clippers, Pete Nance and Jamaree Bouyea of the Bucks, Lester Quinones of the Pelicans, David Roddy of the Rockets, Miles Norris of the Celtics, and Jared Rhoden of the Raptors all signed two-year, two-way contracts.

As our tracker shows, that means that 25 of the 90 players signed to two-way contracts have deals that will carry over to the 2025/26 league year. It’s common for many of the players on two-year, two-way pacts to be waived during the offseason if teams decide there’s an undrafted rookie or Summer League standout they’d rather add, but those two-year terms give clubs the option of retaining their two-way players for another year.

Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts around the league:

The Jazz used $634,437 of their room exception to sign guard Jaden Springer, who got a three-year contract that includes a non-guaranteed salary for 2025/26 and a team option for ’26/27. Springer will receive a $400K partial guarantee on next season’s salary if he remains under contract through July 25. That partial guarantee will increase to $600K if he makes the opening night roster in the fall.
Teams that used a portion of their mid-level exceptions to promote two-way players to multiyear standard deals include the Wizards with Justin Champagnie ($1,800,000), the Clippers with Jordan Miller ($1,005,000), and the Rockets with Jeenathan Williams ($515,881). All three players got four-year contracts that don’t include guaranteed money beyond this season, though Miller’s deal includes some trigger dates — he’ll get a partial guarantee of $350K for 2025/26 if he’s still under contract beyond July 15 and half of his $2,191,897 salary will become guaranteed if he isn’t waived before the start of the ’25/26 regular season.
Pat Spencer of the Warriors, Orlando Robinson of the Raptors, and Ryan Rollins of the Bucks all received straight conversions of their two-way contracts to standard deals, so they’ll each still be eligible for restricted free agency this offseason.
Dominick Barlow‘s new two-year contract with the Hawks is a minimum-salary deal that includes a team option for 2025/26.

Jaden Springer Signs Three-Year Contract With Jazz

March 2nd, 2025 at 3:03pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

3:03 pm: Springer’s new contract is official, the Jazz announced in a press release.

1:48 pm: Fresh off a 10-day deal with the Jazz, guard Jaden Springer has agreed to a three-year contract with Utah, his agent Chad Speck informs ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

In a cost-cutting move, Boston traded the 6’4″ combo guard and a future second-round pick to Houston at this year’s trade deadline. The Rockets quickly waived Springer, who soon latched on with a rebuilding Utah team.

Springer has appeared in four games for the Jazz so far. He’s averaging 3.5 points, 1.3 assists and 0.8 steals in 8.8 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .556/.500/1.000 in a very small sample size.

Jazz head coach Will Hardy has been utilizing Springer and another new wing addition, KJ Martin, in an effort to shore up his defense.

Springer, still just 22, was selected with the No. 28 pick out of Tennessee by the Sixers in 2021. He spent his initial two seasons on contending Philadelphia teams, but failed to make much of a rotational dent.

Springer was traded to the Celtics midway through the 2023/24 season, but was squeezed out of Joe Mazzulla‘s rotation during Boston’s run to the 2024 title. He appeared in just four playoff games for the Celtics, averaging 5.5 mop-up minutes during those games.

With Utah fully in developmental mode, Springer will now get an extended opportunity to make a real roster impact at last.

Jazz Notes: Springer, Martin, Sensabaugh, Williams, George, Sexton

February 22nd, 2025 at 8:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

Two recent additions made their debuts with the Jazz during Friday’s loss to Oklahoma City, writes Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. Former Celtics guard Jaden Springer, who signed a 10-day contract on Thursday, checked into the game in the first quarter as the second player that coach Will Hardy used off the bench. Springer had seven points, a rebound and two assists while playing nearly 11 minutes, and Larsen expects him to get another 10-day deal when the current one expires.

Also appearing for the first time in a Jazz uniform was KJ Martin, who went from Philadelphia to Utah in the five-team trade that sent Jimmy Butler to Golden State. Martin, who played 15:40 and scored two points, has a non-guaranteed $8MM contract for next season, so he’s auditioning for a future role with the team.

Hardy’s reliance on the two newcomers is an indication of his desire for increased energy on defense, according to Larsen. Hardy told reporters that he expects Springer and Martin “to be good individual defenders, and also sort of model what being a competitive defensive player looks like.” Larsen also notes that small forward Brice Sensabaugh, who’s averaging 8.9 PPG in 44 games, didn’t play at all as Hardy shifts the team’s emphasis to defense.

There’s more from Utah:

Jazz rookie Cody Williams got to face his older brother, Thunder star Jalen Williams, for the first time ever on Friday night, Larsen adds. Cody, who was sidelined the first two times the teams met this season, said watching the matchup meant a lot to their mother, who attended the game with a large contingent of family members wearing split Jazz/Thunder jerseys. “I could tell she was crying, her eyes were a little red,” he said. “I think they realize the situation and just how blessed we are. It’s just an awesome moment, to have family out here.”
Keyonte George talked about the need to keep improving in an interview with Cyro Asseo de Choch of HoopsHype. George has evolved into a more confident facilitator during his second NBA season. “When you understand the game, it slows down,” he said. “I’m trying to play with pace, to understand how defenses are going to guard me and some of our actions. And it’s almost like having the answer to the test -– when you prepare the right way and know what teams are going to do, it’s way easier when you’re out there on the floor.”
Collin Sexton has resumed on-court activities and will be reevaluated early next week, the Jazz announced (via Twitter). Sexton has been out of action since February 3 with a sprained left ankle.

Jaden Springer Joins Jazz On 10-Day Deal

February 20th, 2025 at 11:43am CST by Luke Adams

February 20: Springer’s 10-day contract with Utah is official, the team announced in a press release.

February 19: The Jazz and free agent guard Jaden Springer have reached an agreement on a 10-day contract, agent Chad Speck tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

Springer was drafted 28th overall out of Tennessee by the Sixers in 2021 and spent his first two-and-a-half NBA seasons in Philadelphia before being sent to Boston at the 2024 trade deadline in exchange for a second-round pick.

The 6’4″ guard won a title with the Celtics and was still on their roster to open the 2024/25 season, but was dealt to Houston along with a second-round pick earlier this month in a salary-dump deal. The Rockets subsequently waived him.

Springer never emerged as a consistent, reliable rotation player in either Philadelphia or Boston, having averaged just 2.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in 8.0 minutes per game across 93 total appearances (four starts) for the two teams. Still, he’s just 22 years old and is a talented point-of-attack defender, making him a worthwhile flier for a lottery-bound team like Utah.

The Jazz have been carrying just 14 players on standard contracts since cutting Josh Richardson shortly after this month’s trade deadline, so they won’t need to waive anyone to make room on their roster for Springer.

Springer will earn $124,288 on his 10-day deal, while Utah carries a cap hit of $119,972. Assuming the contract is officially signed on Wednesday or Thursday, it will cover the Jazz’s next five games.

Celtics Notes: Craig, Springer, Stevens, Porzingis, Holiday

February 8th, 2025 at 7:54pm CST by Arthur Hill

Torrey Craig chose to sign with the Celtics because they’ll give him a chance to compete for a title, writes Souichi Terada of MassLive. The 34-year-old forward became a free agent when Chicago needed to trim two players off its roster to complete a three-team trade this week. He wasn’t on the open market very long before reaching an agreement with Boston that became official this morning.

“As a competitor in the league, you always want to play for something and compete for something,” Craig said. “I’m a super competitor and I want to play basketball the right way at the highest level. Just to get an opportunity to come play with these guys was like a no-brainer.”

Craig, who has been out of action since December 30 with a sprained right ankle, told Terada that he’s feeling good, but he’s taking his return day by day. He’s trying to learn all he can about how the Celtics operate, and that process started with a quick tour of the facilities on Friday before accompanying the team on a flight for tonight’s game at New York.

Craig knows he may not have a large role with the defending champs, but he provides veteran wing depth and gives them another capable three-point shooter.

“They’re a deep team, super talented,” he said. “Well-coached, well-disciplined. They play the right way. They know what it takes to win playing defense. Playing together and having each other’s backs. You can just see it. The team chemistry and they allow each other to feed off each other and play together and I think that’s why they’ve been so dominant these past couple years.”

There’s more on the Celtics:

Players were sad to lose Jaden Springer, who was traded to Houston on Thursday in a cost-cutting move, Terada adds in a separate story. The Rockets have already waived Springer, so he’ll be searching for his next job as a free agent. “Obviously, we’re gonna miss him,” Payton Pritchard said. “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.”
The Celtics were otherwise quiet at the deadline, which is a combination of the restrictions they face as a second-apron team and the faith that president of basketball operations Brad Stevens has in the current roster, according to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Washburn reveals that Boston had interest in Hawks forward De’Andre Hunter, who was dealt to Cleveland, but wasn’t willing to part with Derrick White and draft assets to get involved in the bidding. “In our situation with our team this year, today was boring as hell,” Stevens said after the deadline. “It wasn’t going to be anything going and the phones didn’t ring. We had already had any discussions that we were going to have. We weren’t just going to do anything major because at the end of the day, even through our ups and downs through the last six weeks, what gives us our best chance to win is this group playing a little bit more like itself more of the time.”
Kristaps Porzingis was a late scratch for tonight’s game due to an illness, Terada tweets. Boston is also without Jrue Holiday, who’s missing his second straight contest with a bruised shoulder.

Lakers Targeting Shooting Guard With Open Roster Spot?

February 7th, 2025 at 4:01pm CST by Rory Maher

Following an extremely active trade deadline which saw the Lakers acquire Luka Doncic and Mark Williams in separate deals, the team now has an open roster spot. Although Los Angeles isn’t in a rush to fill that vacancy, Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported on his live stream (YouTube link) that the Lakers seem to be leaning toward filling out their roster with another shooting guard.

“I’ve heard they’re going to be patient,” Buha said (hat tip to BasketNews.com). “They’re not in a rush to find that potential 15th player. They view the shooting guard spot as the current hole right now, so it seems that’s the type of guy they’re going to try to get.

“Just logically looking at the depth chart, they kind of have everything else. They don’t need a point guard, they have multiple wings that can play 30-plus minutes a night, they have a couple of centers. Looking at the roster and the layout of everything, they need another shooting guard, so I think that’s a direction they’re going to try to go.”

NBA insider Marc Stein reported on Thursday (via Twitter) that Lonnie Walker, who is currently playing for Lithuanian club Zalgris Kaunas, has an out clause in his contract and is a buyout candidate to monitor. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Walker has generated “considerable interest” from NBA teams (Twitter link).

Could a reunion with the Lakers be in the cards? Buha suggested (YouTube link) Walker’s defense might be a concern, and he’s not sure if he’s at the top of the team’s wish list. For what it’s worth, Josh Richardson, Jaden Springer, Seth Curry and Reggie Jackson were among the other players who were either brought up by Buha or asked about by fans.

“If they [Lakers] do add someone, it’s probably going to be a shooting guard, but maybe they end up just doing best player available and saying like, ‘Hey, we don’t love the shooting guard options. Let’s just get the best player.'”

Hawks Trade Cody Zeller, Second-Rounder To Rockets

February 6th, 2025 at 11:10pm CST by Rory Maher

11:10 pm: The trade is official, according to press releases from the Hawks and Rockets. As expected, Houston waived Springer to complete the deal.

1:44 pm: The Hawks are trading veteran center Cody Zeller and Houston’s own 2028 second-round pick, which Atlanta controlled from a previous deal, to the Rockets, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, Houston will acquire Zeller’s $3.5MM contract without having to send a player back in return by using a portion of its non-taxpayer mid-level exception.

Kelly Iko of The Athletic hears (via Twitter) that Atlanta will acquire the draft rights to Alpha Kaba from Houston to complete the deal. The 29-year-old French forward was selected No. 60 overall back in 2017, but has spent his entire career overseas to this point.

It’s a straight salary-dump move for the Hawks, who will remain below the luxury tax line as a result of the deal. They were in danger of surpassing that threshold as a result of taking on additional salary in their De’Andre Hunter trade with Cleveland.

As for the Rockets, they’ll reacquire their own future second-rounder for taking on Zeller’s salary, which is non-guaranteed beyond 2024/25.

The No. 4 overall pick of the 2013 draft, Zeller spent his first eight NBA seasons in Charlotte before becoming a journeyman over the past handful of years, spending time with Portland, Miami and New Orleans from 2021-24.

The Pelicans re-signed Zeller last summer to use his contract for salary-matching purposes in the Dejounte Murray trade — he has yet to play a game for the Hawks in ’24/25, having been listed as away from the team for personal reasons for much of the season.

Considering he hasn’t played at all this season and the Rockets already have three centers (Alperen Sengun, Steven Adams, Jock Landale), it wouldn’t be surprising if Houston decides to waive the 32-year-old big man in the coming days in order to open up a roster spot.

The Rockets will be waiving newly acquired Jaden Springer in order to finalize the trade, per Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle.

Celtics Trade Jaden Springer, Second-Round Pick To Rockets

February 6th, 2025 at 10:54am CST by Luke Adams

FEBRUARY 6: The trade is official, the Celtics and Rockets announced today. In addition to the terms outlined below, Houston is also receiving a protected 2027 second-round pick.

Based on the draft assets Boston controlled, per RealGM, that ’27 second-rounder figures to be either the Trail Blazers’ or Pelicans’ pick (whichever is least favorable; top-55 protected). In other words, the Rockets will only get that pick if either Portland or New Orleans is among the NBA’s top five teams in 2026/27.

FEBRUARY 5: The Celtics have agreed to trade guard Jaden Springer and a 2030 second-round pick to the Rockets in a cost-cutting move, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Charania, the two teams will also swap heavily-protected second-rounders. Kelly Iko of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that Houston will send Boston a top-55 protected 2031 second-round selection.

A salary-dump deal involving Springer had long been anticipated for the defending champions, who had been operating well beyond the luxury tax line and had a projected end-of-season tax bill of about $65.6MM prior to this trade, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).

Moving off Springer’s expiring $4.02MM contract will reduce that projected tax payment to approximately $50.2MM, per Marks, while also opening up a second spot on Boston’s 15-man roster. It doesn’t impact their tax apron position — they remain over the second apron.

Teams can’t carry fewer than 14 players for more than 14 days at a time, so the Celtics will have up to two weeks to re-add a 14th man once their deal with the Rockets is official. Signing a replacement for Springer will bump the team’s tax bill back up a little, but the newcomer figures to be on a prorated minimum-salary deal and will have a far more modest cap hit than Springer did, so the accompanying tax penalty won’t be substantial.

As for the Rockets, they entered the day with more than $10MM in breathing room below the luxury tax line, so absorbing Springer’s $4.02MM salary doesn’t materially change their cap situation. They also have an open spot on their 15-man roster, meaning no one will have to be waived to finalize the deal.

Houston doesn’t have any trade exceptions available, but they can use a portion of their mid-level exception to take on Springer’s salary without sending out a player for matching purposes.

Springer was the 28th overall pick in the 2021 draft, but never developed into a reliable rotation player for the Sixers and was traded to the Celtics at last season’s deadline. The 22-year-old played sparingly in Boston too, appearing in just 43 games over the past year and averaging 1.9 points and 1.0 rebound in 6.3 minutes per contest.

Although Springer will be eligible for restricted free agency at the end of his contract, he’s not expected to receive a qualifying offer. In fact, he may reach unrestricted free agency before season’s end — if the Rockets want to use their 15th roster spot on another player, he’ll likely be the odd man out.