How Sam Hauser and the Celtics bench have opened up the team's offense
With Kristaps Porzingis sidelined by a calf injury, Boston's reserve forward stepped into a bigger role, and Yahoo Sports credited his shooting with keeping the bench unit's offense afloat.
Boston Celtics forward Sam Hauser expanded into a larger role off the bench after center Kristaps Porzingis was sidelined by a calf injury expected to keep him out for at least a week, according to Yahoo Sports. Hauser stepped in to help fill the offensive gap Porzingis's absence created.
Yahoo Sports described Hauser, previously a "relatively unheralded" role player, as having "quietly evolved into an essential part of the team." The outlet's reporting framed his emergence as going beyond what Boston likely expected of him when he was cast as a depth piece.
The available reporting does not include specific shooting percentages, box-score figures, or direct quotes from Hauser, coaches, or teammates for this stretch of the season; it characterizes his contribution in general terms rather than with a full statistical breakdown.
What changed with Porzingis out
Porzingis's calf injury removed a key frontcourt scoring option from Boston's rotation, and Yahoo Sports reported that Hauser was one of the players who absorbed a larger offensive workload off the bench in response. The reporting also credited Hauser with defensive growth that added flexibility to the Celtics' rotations, not just floor-spacing shooting.
What it signals for Boston's depth
A bench player absorbing minutes and offensive responsibility during a starter's injury is a common in-season adjustment, but Yahoo Sports's framing -- that Hauser had become "essential" rather than merely serviceable -- suggested the Celtics viewed his emergence as more than a short-term fix for the Porzingis absence.
How the season played out
Hauser's bench emergence in late November 2023 proved to be the start of a career year rather than a short-term fill-in role. He went on to appear in 79 games for Boston that season, starting 13, and averaged career highs of 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 22.0 minutes per game, according to season statistics compiled by CBS Sports and RotoWire. He made 197 three-pointers, second on the Celtics behind only Jayson Tatum's 229 and 24th leaguewide, while shooting 42.4% from three-point range, 11th in the NBA that season.
CelticsBlog's later-season reporting tracked Hauser shooting 43.3% from beyond the arc by late December, part of what the outlet described as Payton Pritchard and Hauser becoming "tremendous pillars" of Boston's bench unit under coach Joe Mazzulla. For the season as a whole, Boston posted a plus-11.9 net rating with Hauser on the court, the second-best mark on the roster among regular rotation players, tied with Pritchard, according to that reporting.
The role marked a sharp change from the previous season, when Hauser had played limited minutes inside Mazzulla's eight-man playoff rotation; by the 2023-24 campaign his role had become well-defined enough that CelticsBlog's later reporting credited him with contributing more than just catch-and-shoot three-point volume, citing his off-ball movement and defensive positioning as additional reasons Boston's staff trusted him with extended bench minutes.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by Yahoo Sports, with additional season-long statistical detail drawn from CBS Sports, RotoWire and CelticsBlog's later reporting on the 2023-24 Celtics. It restores a story originally published on this site in late 2023; figures are as reported at the time.