Sam Hauser provided some of the deepest reflection at Celtics exit interviews last month. He understood how rare the opportunity for Boston to run back its championship rotation was in 2025, and knew like other teammates that someone might not return for 2025-26. Jayson Tatum’s injury added to the uncertainty.
“It makes you wonder, for sure,” he said.
The Celtics extended Hauser last summer on a four-year, $45 million deal through 2029, fully guaranteed, with no options. It became a milestone contract for players who started their career on a two-way contract like Hauser did in 2022 before becoming a key contributor in the 2024 Finals against Dallas. Yet his deal, however team-friendly at $11.3 million average annual value, followed other massive new contracts for his teammates.
That sets up an intriguing summer for Hauser, who struggled with a back injury early last season before shooting 41% from three for the fourth straight year since joining Boston. The Magic’s switching shut him off to begin the Celtics’ first round series before his 4-for-4 shooting in Game 5. He did not play in Game 1 against the Knicks before halftime, then sprained his ankle four minutes into his second half stint and missed most of the series.
“Not ideal circumstances for sure,” Hauser said. “Took a little while to get my footing back, but I think in the second half of the year, I found it again and managed it in the right way. Just trying to take this summer and work on my body and make sure it’s ready to go for next season.”
Hauser enters this offseason playing on one of the team’s best value contracts, representing the roster’s only reliable wing alongside Jaylen Brown with Tatum out. His deal also becomes the easiest salary to move this summer, since it fits into the NBA’s $14.1 million mid-level exception. Teams below the first apron line can utilize that to absorb Hauser’s salary without sending any money, or matching salary, back to Boston.
Alongside the Brooklyn Nets, who own as much as $70 million in cap space, the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks, San Antonio Spurs, Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards have enough space below the first apron to make a trade for Hauser where they take on most if not all of his contract feasible.
Hauser could also fit into a larger trade exception. Only the Hawks, who created a $13.1 million TPE in the Bogdan Bogdanović trade with the Clippers, and Bulls, who picked up $16.8 million in the Zach LaVine trade, have enough room below the first apron to take that route. The Pelicans ($13M), Heat ($16M) and Kings ($16.8M) all currently have TPEs that Hauser could fit into, but currently sit within $26-million or less of the first apron line. Teams that use their full mid-level exception trigger a hard cap at the first apron for the 2025-26 year.
For Brad Stevens and the Celtics, who signaled they won’t simply give away players this summer, clearing Hauser’s $10 million off the books would reduce their luxury tax hit from $238.2 million to $157.4 million. That’s a greater than $80-million tax difference due to Boston dropping two tax repeater tax brackets in the process. The Celtics would also come nearly halfway to dropping below the second apron in one move.
So two moves, trading Jrue Holiday or Kristaps Porziņģis, alongside Hauser, and only bringing back $23-25 million total could save the Celtics as much as $113.5 million, if not more by offsetting salary to third teams. They’d also reach within $2.4-million of the second apron line, with one small move needed to drop below it. Hauser would not prove easily replaceable, as it took several seasons to develop him into a regular role from the G-League and his career three-point shooting consistency ranks among the best in the league. Baylor Scheierman boasts some comparable skills and Payton Pritchard reliably knocked down catch-and-shoot threes last year, but Hauser’s flame-throwing from deep and defensive posture at 6-7 would become real losses.
The problem is that alternative salary-slashing moves that would allow Hauser to stay would involve other crucial wing players like Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. Only Pritchard, playing for $7.2 million next season, would slide into a mid-level or trade exception. That makes it likely Hauser moves sometime this summer. It’s also worth noting that the Celtics could create their own $10-million TPE to use in later deals by moving Hauser.
Here are some possible trades.
Atlanta Hawks
Can absorb Hauser’s deal in full and remain $30.8 million below the luxury tax line and $38.9 million beneath the first apron while maintaining their full mid-level exception. The Hawks also own the No. 22 pick in the draft, which could allow Boston to propose swapping first-rounders as compensation for Hauser. That would, however, add roughly $500,000 in first-year salary to the rookie’s contract for the Celtics by moving up. That’s not a massive deal if they offset that money with other moves, but worth noting during an offseason where cost-cutting could become so important for Boston. Otherwise, Atlanta owns no second-rounders this year, 2027, 2029 and 2031 Cavs second-rounders, along with their own seconds in 2030 and 2031 as potential returns for Hauser. Georges Niang (1yr, $8.2M) or Vít Krejčí (3yrs, $2.3M) could go back to Boston as Hauser fill-ins.
Brooklyn Nets
There is a world where the Celtics could have to part with a second-rounder to entice a team to use cap space to absorb Hauser’s four-year deal. That could be the case in Brooklyn, where Hauser would represent a tiny drop in their roughly $70-million in projected cap space this summer. The Nets could also flip Hauser elsewhere later to generate more draft capital, or utilize his contract in larger trades, given their cap flexibility. Brooklyn only currently has contracts worth more than $20 million and less than $4 million on its books.
Boston owns the No. 32 pick in this month’s draft, two second-rounders in 2026 and two more (one protected from HOU) in 2031. Those limited future assets would be tough to part with in a cost-cutting trade where nothing comes back to the Celtics. The Nets own No. 8, 19, 26, 27 and 36 in this month’s draft, two seconds next year, one from LA in 2027, three in 2028, four in 2029, three in 2030 and a pair in 2031. Maybe some swaps are in order.
If the Celtics can pull even one of those out of the Nets they might have a deal, though any cap space taken from Brooklyn in this trade could complicate efforts to offset returning salary in a larger cost-cutting trade. The Nets are effectively the only team in the NBA who can take on significant money in trades this summer, and some of their cap space could go toward re-signing their own free agents Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe alongside agreeing to deals with their draft picks.
Hauser can only exit Boston alongside other players in a trade that ends with the Celtics below the second apron.
Chicago Bulls
Looked into a larger trade here where multiple Celtics go to Chicago for either expiring center Nikola Vučević, a Kristaps Porziņģis trade possibility, or Zach Collins. Neither work for the Bulls’ salary-matching and Celtics’ second apron purposes. So only a Hauser trade into Chicago’s trade exception works here, and with Kevin Huerter already on the Bulls’ roster, that doesn’t sound likely to move Chicago off draft capital.
New Orleans Pelicans
Taking on Hauser into a TPE pushes the Pelicans tight against the first apron ($8.3M) before signing their No. 7 overall pick for as much as $7.6-million next year. But those two additions would fill their roster with 15 players. Trey Murphy III and Jordan Hawkins provide overlapping skill sets and the Pelicans have limited future second round capital to offer Boston, putting this deal into some doubt, but the money works for both sides.
Miami Heat
If the Heat view Hauser as an upgrade over Haywood Highsmith, they could trade Highsmith to Boston, absorb Hauser into their Jimmy Butler TPE and the Celtics could take back Highsmith as a rotation wing who makes roughly half as much as Hauser and could be moved later for more savings.
