Taking Care Of Role Player’s Future ‘Priority’ For Celtics In Offseason

The Boston Celtics handing contract extensions to Jayson Tatum and Derrick White this offseason basically is a foregone conclusion.

But there’s been much less chatter about the Celtics locking up Sam Hauser for the future.

Hauser has a $2 million team option for next season, but that’s the final year of the sharpshooter’s deal with free agency looming after that. It’s likely the Celtics will pick up Hauser’s option due to his importance to Boston’s supporting cast and giving him an extension at the same time wouldn’t be a bad idea.

That does seem like their plan after all.

According to MassLive’s Brian Robb, who cited league sources, the Celtics have made getting an extension done with Hauser an offseason “priority.” Robb also noted the Celtics want to do the same with White, who is eligible to receive a four-year, $127 million contract.

Hauser certainly will be much cheaper than that even though the 26-year-old has blossomed from an undrafted rookie into a premier long-range shooter for the Celtics.

The 6-foot-8, 215-pound forward shot 42.4% from beyond the arc — just percentage points behind Jrue Holiday for tops on the teams — on 5.9 attempts per game this season. He also averaged a career-high nine points to go along with 3.5 rebounds.

He showed he could perform when the lights were the brightest, too. After struggling in the Eastern Conference finals, Hauser bounced back in a big way in the NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks by knocking down 11-for-23 (47.8%) 3-point attempts.

Testing free agency after next season for the first time in his career could not only be enticing to Hauser, but also lucrative, especially in a league that craves long-range shooting.

With that in mind, the Celtics would be wise to make sure a homegrown talent like Hauser doesn’t get to that point and an extension would take care of that.