Three years ago, Sam Hauser was making less than $1 million on a two-way contract for the Boston Celtics after joining the team as an undrafted free agent.
Now he's an NBA champion who just secured a four-year, $45 million contract extension that runs through the 2028-29 season.
Hauser's new deal is a big win not only for the 26-year-old sharpshooter, but also for those who helped him develop from an unheralded fringe player to a key member of a championship rotation. That includes Celtics assistant coach D.J. MacLeay, who got emotional when asked about Hauser's extension Sunday.
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"Immense joy, because he was my first guy. Really cool," MacLeay, who coached the Celtics' Summer League squad in Las Vegas, told SB Nation's Noa Dalzell.
MacLeay joined the Celtics as a player enhancement coach in July 2021, about a month before Boston signed Hauser out of the University of Virginia. Player enhancement coaches often get "assigned" certain players on the roster, and MacLeay has worked closely with Hauser over the past three seasons, with impressive results.
Hauser saw his scoring output increase from 2.5 points per game as a rookie to 6.4 points per game in 2022-23 to a career-high 9.0 points per game last season. He hit 42.4 percent of his 3-pointers in 2023-24 and set a new franchise record by making 21 3-pointers over a three-game span in March.
Hauser's new deal is a reflection of how much he's improved as a player and how much his coaches -- including MacLeay -- have aided in his development, so it's pretty cool to see MacLeay have such an emotional reaction to his player's hard work paying off.
