The Celtics’ work extended beyond the drafting of Juhann Begarin with the No. 45 overall pick on Thursday night, as the team also signed undrafted forward Sam Hauser to a two-way contract, according to Shams Charania.
Standing at 6-foot-8, Hauser will embark on his pro career with the Celtics after a four-year collegiate career that started with three years at Marquette before a 2020-21 senior season with Virginia. And there’s no doubt that Hauser was at his best upon the move to Virginia, as he averaged a career-best 15.8 points and shot nearly 52 percent in 23 games for the Cavaliers.
Including his postseason figures, Hauser led the ACC in three-point percentage (41.7 percent), and finished second in three-pointers made per game (2.5), sixth in field goal percentage (50.3), and seventh in point per game (16.0).
All of that was enough to push the Wisconsin native to All-ACC First Team and Julius Erving Award finalist honors.
Hauser’s signing makes him the first Celtic to sign a two-way contract for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
The Celtics spent the 2020-21 season with center Tacko Fall and guard Tremont Waters signed to two-way contracts, and it will be interesting to see how the Hauser signings impacts both players. Not only was 2020-21 the second year on a two-way contract for both Fall and Waters (which means 2021-22 would be the final year of eligibility for such a deal for both players), but teams are only allowed to have two players signed to two-way contracts at a time. In other words, someone’s gotta go.
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