How might the Boston Celtics approach Sam Hauser‘s potential free agency? According to one NBA analyst, the plan might be to trigger it this offseason instead of hanging onto his bargain-basement $2,092,344 team option. Why would Boston inflate their already-expensive and growing tax bill, you ask?
To lock up Slam Hauser before he can hit free agency with even more of a track record pumping his value. But just because the Celtics CAN go such a route, it does not mean that they will. Noting his elite 42.2% efficiency rate from beyond the arc since joining the league, HoopsHype’s Mark Deeks that “the minimum salary represents a bargain.”
Enough of a bargain that it would make more sense to let him walk after one more season with Boston in 2024-25?
Celtics Lab 269: After Banner 18, what's next on Boston's agenda with Jack Simone https://t.co/ap8cFGg05u pic.twitter.com/uZoXP4TMzJ
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) June 20, 2024
For Deeks, the answer is yes. Noting that “there exists a theoretical path in which the Celtics decline his team option and utilize his resultant restricted free agency to tie him down beyond 2024-25,” he doubts they will.
“The bargain price for an important piece seems too good of a deal to pass up, especially in light of the hefty payroll elsewhere.”
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