Joey Hauser earns another NBA chance
Former Michigan State Spartan basketball standout Joey Hauser is back on the Summer League court with a chance to make an NBA roster once again.
After graduating from Michigan State in 2023, Hauser went undrafted before jumping around the league a little in the offseason. He first signed a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz before being waived mid-summer of 2023. He then was signed and waived once again, this time by the Los Angeles Clippers. Finally in October 2023, he signed with the Ontario Clippers, the G-League affiliate of the Los Angeles Clippers, where he played for the 2023-24 season.
Now he’s getting another chance in the NBA Summer League as the New Orleans Pelicans just announced that Hauser has officially made their summer roster.
Ready for Summer League💪@Trip_A_Deal | @GleagueSquadron https://t.co/8C59Lyn58D
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) July 10, 2024
A few other Spartans have made Summer League rosters as well, including Gabe Brown, Malik Hall, and Tyson Walker. Brown and Hall’s teams both have played this summer already, with Hall having the best performance of the two so far. Walker’s first game with Phoenix is coming up, so we’ll see how he does in the future.
But this is a massive opportunity for Hauser to try and jumpstart his NBA career again. Last season with the Clippers' G-League affiliate, Hauser played solid and averaged 7.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and one assist per game while also shooting 37.4 percent from the 3-point line.
While these are decent numbers, they aren’t quite good enough to make an NBA roster full time. So Hauser’s really going to have to step it up if he’s going to make the NBA.
The most likely scenario is that he’ll find himself on a G-League roster again, and in all honesty end up playing professionally overseas. That by no means would be a failure of a career as you can still make lots of money that route. But for now, Hauser’s going to roll the dice and see if he can impress an NBA team enough to give him a roster spot, and I really hope he’s able to accomplish that.
Hauser and the Pelicans open up Summer League action against the Minnesota Timberwolves on July 12.