First, Derrick White. Then, Jayson Tatum. Now, Sam Hauser.
The Celtics locked up yet another of their 2024 champions on Sunday, reportedly signing reserve wing Sam Hauser to a four-year, $45 million contract extension. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report Hauser’s deal. Hauser already was set to return for the 2024-25 season after Boston picked up his $2.
1 million team option last month. His new contract will start in 2025 and run through the 2028-29 campaign. The 26-year-old Hauser joined the Celtics as an undrafted rookie in 2021 and developed into one of their top bench contributors.
He appeared in 79 regular-season games and all 19 playoff games last season, setting career highs in most statistical categories. His greatest asset is his 3-point shooting. Hauser’s 42.
4% shooting percentage from three in 2023-24 ranked 11th in the NBA and seventh among players who averaged at least five 3-point attempts per game. Hauser shot 44.6% from the field and averaged 9.
0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. The Virginia product struggled at times during Boston’s playoff run — especially in the Eastern Conference Finals, during which he went 1-for-14 from deep — but redeemed himself in the NBA Finals.
He made 47.8% of his threes in the five-game win over Dallas while playing surprisingly competitive defense against Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic. In the weeks between the NBA Finals and Hauser’s new deal, the Celtics finalized long-term extensions for White (four years, $125.
9 million) and Tatum (five years, $314 million), with the latter unseating Jaylen Brown’s 2023 megadeal as the richest contract in league history. They also re-signed backups Luke Kornet, Neemias Queta and Xavier Tillman, and brought back deep reserves JD Davison and Drew Peterson on two-way contracts. Players from last year’s team occupy 13 of the 15 spots on Boston’s current roster, with first-round rookie Baylor Scheierman the lone new addition and the final spot currently vacant.
Only Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk are not set to return. Hauser’s extension also means seven of the eight members of the Celtics’ core playoff rotation (Tatum, White, Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, Payton Pritchard and Hauser) now are under contract for at least two more seasons. The only exception is the 38-year-old Horford, who is entering the final season of a two-year, $19.
5 million deal. That continuity will come at a price, however. Though they’ll be able to avoid severe financial penalties this coming season, the 2025-26 Celtics are on track to be the most expensive roster in NBA history, with $225 million in payroll plus upward of $210 million in luxury tax charges.
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