Sam Hauser, Jay Huff sign NBA deals as un-drafted free agents

Two more Virginia Cavaliers are heading to the league as Sam Hauser and Jay Huff have signed deals after the 2021 NBA Draft. Hauser has signed a two-way contract with the Boston Celtics, while Jay Huff is on an Exhibit 10 deal with the Washington Wizards.

The two-way contract will allow Hauser to play with Boston’s G-League team and also be pulled up to the Celtics. Here is how the G-Leauge describes the two-way contract:

NBA teams may have up to two players under NBA Two-Way Contracts who will spend the bulk of the season in the NBA G League and not more than 45 days with their NBA team. Two-Way players are paid a corresponding daily amount based on the number of days they play in each league. Only players in their fourth NBA season or earlier are able to sign Two-Way Contracts, which can be for either one or two seasons.

Previous Virginia players on two-way contracts include recent NBA Champion Mamadi Diakite, Kyle Guy, and Devon Hall.

The Exhibition 10 contract — which was added in the 2017 collective bargaining agreement — basically gives a player an advantage with regards to training camp. As Hoops Rumors describes it, Exhibit 10 contracts are, “...one-year deals worth the minimum salary. They don’t come with any compensation protection, but can include an optional bonus ranging from $5K to $50K.” If Huff is waived by the Wizards after training camp and he plays with the G-League affiliate for 60 days, he’d receive the optional bonus. This would not be the case if Huff ended up signing with a professional team overseas.

Hauser, who played one season with Virginia after transferring from Marquette and sitting out one season, led the Cavaliers in scoring in 2020-21 with 16 points per game. He was one of the best shooters from deep in the conference, hitting 41.7% of his attempts. While he wasn’t the best one-on-one defender, Hauser developed as a strong rebounder over the course of the season with 6.8 rebounds per game and a 21.6% defensive rebounding mark.

Huff, Virginia’s 2020-21 super senior, had an outstanding career at Virginia. Dubbed ‘The Hoonicorn, Huff averaged 13 points and 7.1 rebounds per game his final season. He was a threat all over the court with a eFG% of 65.2% and connecting on 39% of his threes. Huff had an 11.9% block percentage — good for No. 10 in the country — and blocked 66 shots last season.

With these two signings and Trey Murphy being drafted at No. 17 overall to the New Orleans Pelicans, Virginia had three players join the league this season.