Can the C’s afford to keep Hauser long-term? Salary cap guru weighs in Originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
Sam Hauser will return to the Boston Celtics next season. However, the sharpshooter’s long-term future with the team remains uncertain.
Celts exercised Hauser’s team option for $2.1 million on Saturday. According to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe, Boston is expected to begin Negotiating a contract extension with the 26-year-old forward when he becomes eligible for an extension on July 9. He is eligible to earn a contract of up to four years for $78 million.
If the two sides don’t come to an agreement, Hauser will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Keeping him on the team long-term could be tricky with the NBA’s new luxury tax rules, so our Chris Forsberg invited salary cap expert Ryan Bernardoni onto the latest episode of the Celtics Talk Podcast to discuss the financial implications of signing Hauser to a hefty contract.
The Celtics speak: Breaking down the numbers on the Celtics’ elite roster with salary cap guru Ryan Bernardoni Listen and subscribe | Watch on YouTube
“If you add Sam Hauser, who I think will make over $10 million next year … it’s an $82 million, one-year commitment to add Sam Hauser to that starting position,” Bernardoni explained. “If Al Horford wants to come back at a minimum salary, great. If he wants more than that or if he retires and you want to replace him with somebody else, and again, because of the bench, we’re talking about minimum salaries. But if you’re talking about $2.5 million minimum salaries — $2.5 million times 7 — you’re talking about players who are $20 million minimum salary players just to fill out your roster. And then that $150 million very quickly, even signing minimum salary players, goes to $200 million.
“If you’re talking about Hauser, you’re talking about $300 million in luxury taxes in a single year and then potentially that amount will roll over into another year. So short of an ownership group coming in and saying, ‘Listen, if we’re going to pay $5 billion for the team anyway, what difference does it make if we pay $6 billion?’ it’s hard to see them continuing to pay all of that. And it would certainly be unprecedented for anyone in the history of the league, not just in terms of raw dollars but also in terms of what probably matters most, which is the luxury tax as a percentage of the salary cap.
“…When you’re talking about a $330 million luxury tax, it’s out of scale with everything that’s happened before, so you look at it and say, it’s probably not going to happen.”
Also in the episode:
