Michigan State men's basketball forward Joey Hauser will get a shot in the NBA. After going undrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft, he has agreed to sign to a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz.
Tony Jones of the Athletic was first to report.
A two-way contract in the NBA essentially means Hauser will spend time rotating between the NBA G League and NBA. He can play up to 50 NBA games in the regular season. It is defined by gleague.nba.com as the following:
"NBA teams may have up to two players under NBA Two-Way Contracts who may be active for up to 50 games with their NBA team. This season, players signed to Two-Way Contracts are paid one salary for their time in both leagues. Only players with three or fewer years of NBA service are able to sign Two-Way Contracts, which can be for either one or two seasons."
Hauser was one of the best and most consistent players on the Michigan State's roster for the 2022-2023 season.
Hauser, who earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors, averaged 14.4 points per game, while shooting 48.4% from the floor, 46.1% from 3-point range and 87.6% from the free-throw line. He also chipped in 7.0 rebounds per game, which led Michigan State. He played in all 34 games for the Spartans this past season.
After transferring from Marquette, Hauser joined Michigan State ahead of the 2019-2020 season, however, he was forced to sit out that year due to NCAA transfer rules at the time. He then went on to play 97 games as a Spartan, including 79 starts.
Throughout his college career, including his time at Marquette, Hauser played in 131 games with 110 starts. He averaged 26.1 minutes, 10.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game, while shooting 46.6% overall, 41.6% from deep and 81.5% from the free-throw line. Hauser scored 1,344 career points, including 1,015 with MSU.
Hauser's maturation as a Spartan under head coach Tom Izzo was one that truly endeared him to Michigan State fans. After struggling somewhat in his first two seasons in a Spartan uniform — coming off of sitting out a year and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues — Hauser flourished into not only one of the best players on Michigan State, but in the entire Big Ten Conference in 2022-2023.
With his size and rebounding ability, Hauser might be able to find a way to carve out a role in the NBA, but most certainly will make a living off playing basketball at some level if he wants to.
With the Jazz, Hauser will play under head coach Will Hardy. Hauser joins a roster in Utah that currently features Lauri Markkanen, Rudy Gay, Colin Sexton and others.
Interestingly, Steve Wojciechowski is the head coach of the Jazz's G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars. Wojciechowski was Hauser's head coach while he was at Marquette.
Hauser's agency, Glushon Sports Management, announced the news as well.
