Boston Celtics sign Sam Hauser to 4-year, $45 million contract

It’s payday for Sam Hauser.

Less than a month after the Boston Celtics picked up his $2.1 million option for next season, Sam Hauser has agreed to a four-year, $45 million contract extension that will keep the former Virginia basketball player with the reigning NBA champion Celtics through the 2028-29 season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday.

In his third season in the NBA, Hauser averaged 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game, all career highs, and shot 42.4% from three, the fourth-best mark in the NBA among players with at least 400 three-point attempts. He played in 79 of 82 regular season games, including 13 starts. One of those regular season games was particularly memorable, as Hauser made 10 three-pointers on just 13 field goal attempts in a blowout win over the Wizards in mid-March, becoming the first player in NBA history to make 10 three-pointers in a single game in under 24 minutes.

Earlier this month, Hauser became the sixth former Virginia basketball player to win an NBA championship, joining Wally Walker (1977 Portland Trail Blazers, 1979 Seattle SuperSonics), Marc Iavaroni (1983 Philadelphia 76ers), Rick Carlisle (1986 Boston Celtics, then 2011 Dallas Mavericks as head coach), Jeff Lamp (1988 Los Angeles Lakers) and Mamadi Diakite (2021 Milwaukee Bucks).

Hauser played in every playoff game and scored in double figures three times, including a 17-point game in Boston’s series-deciding Game 5 victory over Miami in the first round and a 14-point game in Game 4 of the NBA Finals in Dallas. Hauser shot 47.8% from three in the NBA Finals and had more than a few solid defensive plays, proving he can be a valuable part of an NBA Championship-winning team.

The Celtics appear to agree with that assessment, making a hefty financial investment in Hauser. With the extension, which is the third the Celtics have signed this summer (Jayson Tatum and Derrick White), Boston’s combined $225 million salary and $210 million luxury tax penalty in 2025-26 are expected to be the largest for a single season in NBA history.

Hauser is expected to earn $2,092,344 in the final year of his rookie deal in 2024-25, but will then make $10,044,643 in 2025-26 after the extension kicks in next summer. His $45 million deal, which is fully guaranteed, will pay him an average of $11.25 million over the next four years.