Being a playoff-contending team typically makes it hard to trot out young and developing players for consistent minutes throughout a season. For the Philadelphia 76ers’ 2021 first-round pick, Jaden Springer, he found himself in a situation where he struggled to carve out a consistent role beyond the G League through his sophomore effort.
The 2023-2024 NBA season was expected to be a time when Springer finally finds a role within the Sixers’ rotation under first-year head coach Nick Nurse. While Springer played more NBA games than ever this year while averaging a career-high in minutes, he was still out of the rotation when the squad was healthy.
Leading up to the 2024 trade deadline, Springer wasn’t known to be on the Sixers’ trade block. As a team with a handful of veterans on expiring contracts that were viewed as tradeable, the Sixers were expected to be busy in the trade market but focusing on moving other prospects.
The Sixers were active in the trade market, dealing away some of the players who expected a change of scenery. Many were shocked to see Philly’s fourth and final trade of the day include Springer landing with their Atlantic Division rival, the Boston Celtics.
In exchange for Springer, the Sixers acquired a 2024 second-round pick from Boston. They’ll ultimately land the most favorable pick from the Chicago Bulls or the New Orleans Pelicans.
The trade was met with mixed reviews, leading Morey to explain his logic behind the trade following the deadline on Friday.
“We’re focused on winning the title,” Morey claimed. “We had to look at what are the odds for Jaden Springer, who I think has a great future, help our rotation in the one-two-three-year maybe horizon? And what are the odds the second-round pick helps us? We thought the second-round pick helps us more. That’s just the reality. It allows us to go get maybe a veteran at next year’s deadline, things like that. We liked the net of Jaden and Pat [Beverley], who was going to play less here, and one second-round pick for the best player traded. So we did it.”
When the Sixers drafted Springer out of Tennessee, he was coming off of his freshman season and was recognized as one of the youngest players in the draft pool. Considering his lack of playing experience beyond the preps level, Morey and the Sixers knew they had to remain patient with Springer’s development.
“That was a pick that, generally, we would rather push into the future,” Morey explained. “Or, if we do end up picking someone, we feel like they will either help us on the court or end up in something like this where you’re retaining the ability to use them to go get a Buddy Hield, right? For me, the Jaden thing was successful. I’m totally fine if people want to write the opposite. If you take a look at late-first and into the second round, 85 percent of those players can’t be traded, aren’t helping their team on the floor, and can’t be traded for the positive value that helps you get another player. Jaden did that. I have to keep my focus on the playoff team now. That’s our focus — right or wrong.”
In terms of development, Springer’s offense was clearly still a work in progress three years into his run as a professional. In 32 games, the young guard hit just 39 percent of his shots from the field and 22 percent of his threes. The 76ers were well aware of his defensive value, but that didn’t help them view Springer as a player who can bring value to the table soon.
“Jaden’s gonna be really good,” Morey finished. “I think his timetable is a little pushed out, though. Our evaluation, and if we’re wrong, then we’re wrong. Then you guys can all write it, it’s fine. Our evaluation was that his timetable to help a playoff team is farther out than what the second-round pick could do for us.”
With Springer turning into a second-round pick, the Sixers have flexibility with the return as they use the pick as an asset in a future trade or simply select a new rookie with it. As for the Celtics, they’ll continue to develop Springer in hopes of finding a role for him quicker than the 76ers could.
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