The Boston Celtics and sharpshooting forward Sam Hauser agreed on a four-year, $45 million contract extension, which became official on Tuesday.
Hauser, the latest member of Boston’s championship-winning roster retained through an extension, shot 44.4% from 3-point territory — the fourth-best among players who attempted 400-plus threes, per ESPN Stats & Information. But Hauser’s value to the organization spans beyond the on-court production, which Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens explained following the agreement.
“You can count on Sam. He comes to work every single day with the right mindset and attitude,” Stevens said in a statement. “His shooting gets most of the attention – but his feel for the game, defensive versatility, and his consistency as a teammate have allowed him to impact our team in the biggest of moments. We are excited Sam has decided to extend his contract with the Celtics.”
The journey to becoming an NBA champion paid (handsomely) by one of the most historic franchises in sports wasn’t a traditional start-to-finish sprint. Hauser went undrafted out of the University of Virginia in 2021 before signing a two-way contract with the Celtics, who at the time, were pursuing a title in real-time. This left Hauser to start in Boston’s G League affiliate in Maine before carving out a role with the Celtics.
Last season, Hauser averaged a career-high nine points, 3.5 rebounds and one assist in 79 games — including 13 starts. On March 17 against the Washington Wizards, Hauser drained a career-best 10 threes, coming up short of the franchise record (11) currently held by Marcus Smart, and the NBA record (14), held by Klay Thompson. That mountain climb, which few successfully climb, offers an avenue of inspiration for Boston’s current homegrown youngsters, too, looking to carve out a role with the Celtics.
“I think there’s always room for improvement in the things that you’re not good at, but also the things that you’re doing really well,” Hauser told the “Green Light With Chris Long” podcast earlier this month. “I think you can always get better and with the roster we have, my role is still going to be probably similar to what it was. But how can I do little things here and there to expand it a little bit, and I don’t know what that looks like at the moment. We’re gonna have a similar roster but every year is different. You never know what can happen. So I’m gonna work hard this summer and do things to improve, but in terms of my role, I think it’ll be similar to what it was which is fine.”
