The Celtics have reached an agreement with Sam Hauser on a four-year, $45MM contract extension, agent Jason Glushon tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
It’s a significant raise for the 26-year-old forward, who will make a little more than $2MM for the upcoming season. Boston picked up its team option on Hauser’s contract in late June with the intention of signing him to an extension.
There are no options in the final year so the deal is fully guaranteed, a league source tells Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link).
Hauser is coming off a career-best season in which he played an important role off the bench in the Celtics’ run to an NBA title. He appeared in 79 games, making 13 starts and averaging 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists with a .446/.424/.895 shooting split.
Hauser has become one of the NBA’s top three-point shooters since joining the Celtics on a two-way deal after going undrafted out of Virginia in 2021. He spent most of his first season in the G League, then signed a standard contract in the summer of 2022.
Hauser’s extension is the third of the summer for Boston, which also reached long-term deals with Jayson Tatum and Derrick White. In addition, the team has signed Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis to extensions within the past year.
In a full story on the extension, Wojnarowski notes that the Celtics now have a projected $225MM payroll for the 2025/26 season, which would result in a $210MM tax penalty and create the largest combined salary/tax bill in league history. They are also likely to exceed the second apron for a second straight year, which will prevent them from being able to trade their first-round picks for 2032 and 2033.
The franchise could be in new hands by then, as the majority ownership group announced earlier this month that it plans to sell its shares in the team.