Utah Jazz sign Joey Hauser to two-way contract

The Utah Jazz are signing former Michigan State forward Joey Hauser to a two-way contract after he went undrafted.

The NBA draft has come and passed and the only Spartan who was looking to hear his name called was Joey Hauser. He just wrapped up a career year and proved himself as an all-around player.

Hauser improved in just about every single category as a senior.

But he went two full rounds on Thursday night without hearing his name called which was expected. Also as expected, it didn’t take long for an NBA team to pick him up. On Thursday night, the Utah Jazz signed Hauser to a two-way contract.

The Utah Jazz are signing Michigan State forward Joey Hauser to a two way contract, League Sources tell The Athletic. Joey’s brother Sam played this season for the Boston Celtics

— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) June 23, 2023

This is a great deal for Hauser as this gives him a chance to develop in the G-League while simultaneously being on the active NBA roster. Each NBA team can have two players with this two-way distinction so that must mean the Jazz really liked what they saw in Hauser. He fits the system as he’s a real threat from 3-point range.

Hauser is the perfect case of a player that Tom Izzo always believed in and even when times got rough, he would give him a chance to prove himself. He never gave up on the Marquette transfer even when the fanbase seemingly did.

You could argue that Joey Hauser had arguably the biggest career turnaround in the past decade at Michigan State. He went from an oft-criticized forward who couldn’t hold his own defensively and lacked confidence to a player who wouldn’t even hesitate to rise and fire and could do just fine on defense.

It’ll be fun to watch Hauser in the NBA Summer League and see if he can earn some action on the Jazz this season. There are opportunities to play for guys who can shoot lights out and Hauser is just that.

Utah has earned itself a ton of Spartan fans.