Jaden Springer Misses More Valuable Time for Development

With plenty of opportunity to go around for the short-handed Sixers, second-year guard Jaden Springer landed in a tough spot himself.

The Philadelphia 76ers were placed in a difficult spot through the first stretch of the 2022-2023 NBA season. While they were fully healthy for the first few games of the year, an injury to James Harden became the team’s first notable setback of the season.

Then, the third-year guard Tyrese Maxey ended up in the same boat. One night after Maxey was diagnosed with a small fracture in his foot, Joel Embiid suffered a mid-foot sprain. Suddenly, the Sixers were down three starters within the first month of the season.

Being short-handed is never ideal for any team, but there can be silver linings. For the Sixers, they had no choice but to offer more minutes to players who barely cracked the rotation this year. 

For a player like Shake Milton, he went from being in and out of the rotation, averaging fewer than eight minutes on the floor, to thriving with over 30 minutes per game and guaranteeing himself a spot off the bench when the lineups normalize once again. 

The several absences on the Sixers’ roster offered more opportunity to players who would struggle to see the court otherwise. For a player like Jaden Springer, this stretch could’ve offered some valuable minutes off the bench as he searches for his NBA identity in year two. Unfortunately, Springer is limited to just being around the team, listening and watching, as an injury sidelined him as well.

Following a Delaware Blue Coats practice in mid-November, Springer was diagnosed with a right quadriceps strain. While his timeline for return was unclear, Springer was guaranteed to miss at least a week’s worth of games.

As the Sixers battled without three starters and a key defender off the bench throughout the last week, Springer remained sidelined with his injury. As Springer was progressing well, the team wouldn’t rule out the idea of Springer potentially suiting up for last Sunday’s game against the Orlando Magic, according to a team official. 

Unfortunately, Springer not only missed the second outing in Orlando over the weekend, but he missed the Monday night matchup against the Atlanta Hawks as well.

Dealing with his recent setback for nearly two weeks now, Springer is on pace to miss another matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. It will mark the eighth-straight game Springer will be listed as inactive. 

While the second-year guard’s playing time in Philadelphia would most likely be limited to just a few minutes per game, if that, Springer is also missing valuable development time with the team’s G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats.

Prior to his injury, Springer appeared in three games with the Blue Coats this year. Averaging 30 minutes on the floor, the sophomore guard put up 15 points per game while hitting on 44 percent of his shots and 40 percent of his threes.

The Sixers hope Springer can return to action soon so he can continue tuning up his game, but the young guard will remain off the court as the Sixers embark on another road trip beginning in Cleveland on Wednesday night. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.