According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, the New York Knicks should target Boston Celtics forward Sam Hauser in a trade this summer after losing to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. Buckley believes Hauser would give the Knicks valuable depth, as they struggled to keep up with Indiana’s deep rotation:
“He should qualify, at the very least. He has already contributed to a championship run, serving as a full-time rotation regular for Boston's 2024 title team. He could help New York increase its three-point volume while also holding his own as a serviceable team defender (especially when surrounded by impact stoppers).”
According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, the New York Knicks should target Boston Celtics forward Sam Hauser in a trade this summer after losing to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. Buckley believes Hauser would give the Knicks valuable depth, as they struggled to keep up with Indiana’s deep rotation:
“He should qualify, at the very least. He has already contributed to a championship run, serving as a full-time rotation regular for Boston's 2024 title team. He could help New York increase its three-point volume while also holding his own as a serviceable team defender (especially when surrounded by impact stoppers).”
The question is, what would a trade look like?
What would a Sam Hauser-Knicks trade look like?
The Celtics’ primary goal this summer will be to shed salary. They need to clear more than $20 million in order to get under the second apron, and moving Hauser’s $10 million would help them inch toward that goal.
The problem is, that the Knicks don’t have a ton of flexibility to make a trade. Almost all of the contracts they would need to use to match Hauser’s salary are regular members of their current rotation: Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride, etc.
Trading one of them would defeat the purpose of adding Hauser in the first place, as the point of making a deal for him would be to add depth to the roster.
According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report, the New York Knicks should target Boston Celtics forward Sam Hauser in a trade this summer after losing to the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals. Buckley believes Hauser would give the Knicks valuable depth, as they struggled to keep up with Indiana’s deep rotation:
“He should qualify, at the very least. He has already contributed to a championship run, serving as a full-time rotation regular for Boston's 2024 title team. He could help New York increase its three-point volume while also holding his own as a serviceable team defender (especially when surrounded by impact stoppers).”
The question is, what would a trade look like?
What would a Sam Hauser-Knicks trade look like?
The Celtics’ primary goal this summer will be to shed salary. They need to clear more than $20 million in order to get under the second apron, and moving Hauser’s $10 million would help them inch toward that goal.
The problem is, that the Knicks don’t have a ton of flexibility to make a trade. Almost all of the contracts they would need to use to match Hauser’s salary are regular members of their current rotation: Josh Hart, Mitchell Robinson, Miles McBride, etc.
Trading one of them would defeat the purpose of adding Hauser in the first place, as the point of making a deal for him would be to add depth to the roster.
In theory, New York could combine a bunch of smaller salaries in a deal, but the Celtics likely wouldn’t want to take on that many players.
The Knicks could also try to get a third team involved, send out someone like Precious Achiuwa in a sign-and-trade, and make the money work from there. But that would still be a very tricky angle to work.
Should the Celtics trade Sam Hauser?
If the Celtics are going to trade Hauser, the point would be to clear money off their books and potentially get some draft capital back in return. The Knicks can’t offer either of those advantages (at least, not without doing it in some convoluted way).
There should be plenty of much simpler routes for Boston to take if they decide to trade Hauser this summer, and most of them would avoid having to move him to a division rival, too.
While Hauser would make some sense for the Knicks, the logistics of a potential trade just aren’t there. It seems highly unlikely that Hauser will end up in The Big Apple this offseason.
