Getty Nik Stauskas, Boston Celtics
When the Boston Celtics signed Nik Stauskas in early March it was clear that Brad Stevens was looking to add a shooting specialist to the roster.
Stauskas was coming off a 100-point two-game stretch in the G-League and had been impressing throughout the season. Yet, since inking his deal with the Celtics, the sharpshooting wing has yet to see the floor, and instead, has been an ever-present at the end of the bench.
During a recent interview, the former Philadelphia 76ers shooter noted how he almost came close to calling time on his professional basketball career. And according to Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett in a fresh episode of Heavy on the NBA, if things don’t go according to plan in Boston, Stauskas could still decide to pursue opportunities outside of basketball.
“He said when he got to Boston that if this year did not work out, he was going to have to think whether basketball was a thing for him anymore. So it’s—he’s not a guy who is going to be scrounging around to keep alive a dream. It is either going to be there or it’s not,” Bulpett said.
Minutes Will be Hard to Come By
Ime Udoka has stuck to a stringent eight or nine-man rotation since the turn of the year. Aaron Nesmith has been a casualty of Udoka’s shortened rotations, as had Payton Pritchard before Dennis Schroder was sent packing at the trade deadline. And now, it seems the Stauskas could be in for a tough ride when it comes to earning minutes with the Celtics.
“It is going to be hard. If he gets into a game and starts hitting, they’d let him go. They’ve expanded the rotation a little bit but he’s still not in it. I don’t know, when Nesmith comes back, will he get that shot first?
You saw what he was doing in the G-League, but he was able to get a rhythm, get his touches and get his shots and not worry that each shot was an event. It can’t be that—it has to come naturally and in a flow. Unless there are injuries that force him to get those opportunities, it is going to be tough,” Bulpett told Heavy.com‘s, Sean Deveney.
Ime Udoka said Boston was looking at signing Nik Stauskas before Aaron Nesmith got hurt. Udoka said the Celtics are “always looking at available shooters” and liked Stauskas because of that. Boston feels fortunate to have gotten Stauskas because other teams were interested too.
Boston has added multiple end-of-bench shooters in recent weeks, meaning Stauskas is not only battling Aaron Nesmith for minutes, but will also have to beat out Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet, and Malik Fitts. However, Ime Udoka recently noted that the Celtics weren’t the only team interested in acquiring the sharpshooting veteran, so you would hope they do right by him and provide an opportunity to prove he belongs in the rotation.
Stauskas’ Contract is Non-Guaranteed
When he signed for the Celtics, Stauskas put pen to paper on a deal that would see him remain in Boston until the end of the 2022-23 season. However, the final season of that deal is non-guaranteed, meaning the Celtics could waive him during the summer without eating any dead money on the cap sheet.
“They gave him that non-guaranteed deal, much like they did with Jabari Parker, who they did give a chance. But the guarantee date is in July so they don’t have the time that they did to figure it out with Stauskas like they did with Parker.
They like him, he had the big explosion, 100 points in two games with the G League but they liked him before that. But Ime Udoka, that is the issue. He does not appear to be a fan. It is setting up one of those things that you worry about going forward, is Ime on the same page?” Deveney noted.
It’s clear that Brad Stevens still has work to do if he wishes to give Udoka a championship-caliber roster, and if the President of Basketball Operations begins to wheel and deal during the off-season, Stauskas could find himself back in the free-agent pool again. And if that happens, there’s a chance that the sharpshooter decides to call it a day, which would be unfortunate if he hasn’t been given the opportunity to prove himself one last time.