After the NBA Draft was over, the Celtics signed former Virginia shooter Sam Hauser to a two-way contract, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.
While it wasn’t a major surprise that Hauser went undrafted, he’s very clearly an elite shooting prospect. He shot 50.3% from the field, 41.7% from three, and 89.6% from the free throw line last season. He was one of only four players in college basketball last season to reach 50/40/90 shooting numbers on at least 100 field goal attempts.
He has good size at 6’7″, but NBA teams have questions about his athleticism and ability to defend at the next level. He was also one of the oldest players in the draft at 23, and will be turning 24 later this year. He didn’t play in 2019-20 after transferring from Marquette prior to his senior season.
He was Virginia’s leading scorer last year, averaging 16.0 points per game, and led them to a 4-seed in the NCAA tournament. They were upset in the first round by Ohio in part due to a poor performance from Hauser, shooting 4/16 from the field and 1/8 from deep. He finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds.
Hauser was also drawing interest from the Heat, among other teams, after going undrafted. He’s expected to play for the Celtics Summer League team next month. Hauser’s signing uses up one of the Celtics two-way slots that were previously occupied by Tremont Waters and Tacko Fall. Waters has made it clear he wants to look for a larger role with another team this offseason. Fall’s interest in re-signing is less certain.
Photo: (Michael Dwyer – AP Photo)