Philadelphia 76ers: Nik Stauskas lands a new deal… with the Celtics

Welp, it happened: Ex-Philadelphia 76ers wing Nik Stauskas will be getting back into the association.

That’s right, after watching the pride of Michigan put up 100 points over two games with the Grand Rapids Gold, Stauskas has just inked a two-year contract to return to the NBA full-time for the first time since 2018-19.

That’s the good news. The bad news? The new contract is with the Boston Celtics.

Is this sort of a bummer? You bet, while I’d assume most folks are happy to see Sauce Castillo get another opportunity to play the game he loves at its highest level, why couldn’t it have been with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Toronto Raptors, or even the Milwaukee Bucks, who just so happen to be the NBA’s reigning champions. Anyone but the Boston Celtics, who might actually use him as part of their rotation down the stretch.

The Philadelphia 76ers may have to contend with Nik Stauskas come playoff time.

The Boston Celtics’ 2022 trade deadline was weird.

First, Brad Stevens sent Josh Richardson, Romeo Langford, a 2022 first-round draft pick, and a 2028 first-round draft pick to the San Antonio Spurs for Derrick White. That deal was widely considered one of the better ones done at the deadline, and it has immediately paid off in Boston’s favor, as White has averaged 11.8 points, 3.1 assists, and 3.3 rebounds in 26.3 minutes of action a night while hitting 41.1 percent of his shots from the field and playing some really good defense. Whether White plays the one or the two in an interchangeable backcourt alongside Marcus Smart, the Celtics’ starting lineup is much, much, much better than it was a month ago, no offense to Dennis Schroder.

And hey, speaking of Schroder, he was traded at the deadline too, shipped down to Houston alongside Bruno Fernando and Enes Kanter Freedom for once and future Celtics center Daniel Theis. While that move was more of a head-scratcher than a slam dunk, as was the decision to trade Bol Bol, PJ Dozier, and a second-round pick to the Orlando Magic for a second-round pick, the additions of Theis and White ultimately left the Celtics with not one, not two, not three, or even four, but five open roster spots from which to fill moving forward.

Considering the underwhelming nature of the year’s buyout market, that was easier said than done.

First, the Celtics opted to sign Luke Kornet, who spent some time with the team in 2020-21 and had most recently played for the Milwaukee Bucks. They then converted Sam Hauser’s two-way deal into a standard NBA contract, added Malik Fitts and Kelan Martin on 10-day contracts, and put Matt Ryan – not the football player – on a two-way contract.

Who, you may ask, are any of those players? Well, let’s just say if you haven’t heard their names before, it probably doesn’t speak too well for their chances to make the Celtics’ playoff rotation.

With one spot left to fill, Stevens placed a call to Nik Stauskas’ agent and locked him into a new two-year NBA contract; a contract that unsurprisingly didn’t feature any guaranteed money in 2022-23.

As crazy as it may sound, Stauskas is now the Celtics’ third-oldest player behind Al Horford and Theis and has appeared in more games than every other player on the roster minus Smart, White, and the Two Js. Does that guarantee Sauce a spot in the rotation moving forward? Hardly, but when you consider the Celtics only have one wing, Sam Hauser, who is shooting better than 35 percent from 3, Stauskas could fill an important role on the Celtics’ rotation moving forward.

That, my friends, is good news for Stauskas, but bad news for the Philadelphia 76ers, who would surely rather see the Celtics have 22nd-best team 3 point shooting in the association than watch that number slowly tick up.

All joking aside, good for Nik Stauskas. He’s had a weird road since being traded to the Brooklyn Nets with Jahlil Okafor back in December of 2017 and has improbably made his way back to the NBA almost three years later. Had he not turned in those two monster games in Michigan for the Gold, maybe the extent of his time in the NBA would have been relegated to a single 10-day run with Miami but now, with a new two-year contract under his belt, he’ll finally get another chance to make good on the potential Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé saw all of those years ago.