The Boston Celtics are hovering as a .500 team over the last 21-games. Besides health being a factor, the team just isn’t playing the same way they were when they started the season with a 20-5 record or when they won a championship last season.

Last year, Boston focused on retooling their center position, adding Kristaps Porzingis next to Al Horford, and Luke Kornet, and then also adding Xavier Tillman at the trade deadline in 2024.

The addition of Porzingis opened up the floor for Boston, giving them a triple-threat unicorn to play with. It also added another shooting big man to the roster, as Horford was the only one in the position group to shoot from behind the arc.

The way the season has gone, it seems Boston would benefit from strengthening their depth to the wing position. The depth is thin behind Sam Hauser, who’s still trying to get himself back on track after managing a couple of different injuries this season.

It’s also worth mentioning that head coach Joe Mazzulla only just started to use his full roster, but wing depth is thin behind Hauser because the depth just isn’t developed enough yet to where Mazzulla feels comfortable using Jordan Walsh, Jaden Springer, and Baylor Scheierman too often.

Also, considering the routine of not playing in back-to-back games for Horford and Porzingis, it gives the Celtics lineup to be inconsistent too often, which is a problem this season more so than it was last season.

It’s not hard to see that Boston needs to make an addition to this team to strengthen their chances of going back to the Finals. And on a recent episode of his podcast, Kevin O’Connor and Danny Green talked about potential trade targets for the Celtics and what they can use as assets.

“The Celtics can trade up to three firsts [draft picks], they also have three swaps [pick swaps], six seconds [draft picks]. Brad Stevens has made a move every single deadline he’s been GM: Derrick White and Daniel Theis in 2022, got Muscala in 2023, and then Xavier Tillman in 2024.”

It’ll be hard to part ways, but it seems like Jaden Springer will be the odd man out if they make a trade by the deadline. I say it’ll be hard because acquiring Springer at the deadline last year is something that GM Brad Stevens was excited about as a very young prospect with NBA experience.

This is Stevens during a post-trade deadline press conference last year:

“I think the Springer thing when you think about a guy that’s still on his rookie scale contract and he’s younger than most of the guys that we’re looking at in the draft. So that was an opportunity for us to bring in a guy who we think is an athlete that can play athletically in the playoffs.”

Springer is on the books for $4 million and it’s just too rich right now for a Boston team that is over the second apron and the luxury-tax implications that come with it, which also will determine who and how the Celtics can make a deal.

Most recently, Springer was called upon when the Celtics played the Los Angeles Clippers on their recent road trip. He played the entire second half, provided great defense, and he hit the game-winning shot. He showed what he can bring to the table and he’s ready for when he’s needed.

It’s also worth noting that the potential sale of the team shouldn’t impact how Boston makes a deal at the deadline for this season. Although there isn’t any reporting of that being an issue, Stevens has said many times throughout this process that he can still do business as it needs to be done.

It was reported by Marc Stein on his SteinLine Substack that the Celtics were interested in signing Lonnie Walker IV after the summer, but they couldn’t afford to with their current financial situation and tried to move Springer in the offseason.

I expect Stevens to make a move at the deadline. If it’s for Springer, I would assume it’s to shed salary, but also with the possibility of a quality rental type of player in return to finish this season with.

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Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran, The Boston Globe, Getty Images