Al Horford’s presence will be missed in Boston.
It will be felt in Golden State, where Horford intends to sign a multiyear contract with the Warriors, leaving the Celtics for a second time in his storied career, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
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Jayson Tatum dubbed Horford “one of the best teammates I’ve ever had at any level,” and Jaylen Brown called him “a real-life legend and hero.” You won’t find anyone in the Celtics organization who disagrees.
“If you asked everybody,” Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens told Yahoo Sports this past January, “if you take all of the joy each one of us experienced winning [the championship] last year, I think all of us would say a piece of that joy — if not a large portion of it in my eyes — was for Al.”
That was months ago, when Horford and everyone around him felt like he would finish his career in Boston, as the Celtics’ championship window was wide open. At 39 years old, Horford wanted to begin each season he had left in him with the chance to win a title, and the defending champion Celtics — with Tatum and Brown squarely in their primes — were positioned to see Horford through his career’s end.
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“I just want to be here,” Horford told Yahoo Sports then of his desire to retire in Boston.
Likewise, “As long as Al Horford wants to play,” Stevens said at the time, “we’ll want him here.”
And the Celtics did want him to stay. He is a calming presence in the locker room, and still one heck of a player. He averaged 9 points (42/36/90 shooting splits), 6.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 combined blocks and steals in 27.7 minutes a game last season, his 18th in the NBA. But his impact has never been about statistics. He is a winner who’s “not doing anything to take away from the team ever,” Stevens said.
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More to the point: He is doing everything to contribute to the team. He spreads the floor. He attacks close-outs. He even posts up on occasion. He protects the rim. He defends in space. He does it all, really.
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He will now do it all in Golden State, where both sides of the ball require his level of basketball know-how. There is plenty on the Warriors, who boast veterans Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green. What sweet rotations their decades of hoop will yield. If only they can be healthy at their advanced ages.
In Golden State, at least Horford can cling to a chance, even an outside one, at another ring.
Everything changed in Boston when Tatum ruptured his right Achilles tendon in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Gone was Boston’s shot at becoming the NBA’s first repeat champion since 2018. Gone was Horford’s championship window, at least for now, and now is all the nearly 40-year-old has.
Staring Boston in the face instead was the NBA’s second apron, a punitive salary cap construct that ultimately cost the Celtics both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis. They could have figured out a way to stay under the second apron and retain Horford for next season, but it may have cost them Sam Hauser, and to what end? Certainly not to quench Horford’s ceaseless thirst for another championship.
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Horford’s departure from Boston is more of a statement on the Celtics’ inability to win a title this season than it is of their willingness to spend to keep him. Do not rule out another return to Boston, either, once Tatum returns to health, as the Celtics reopen their championship window in 2027 and beyond.
Al Horford is ageless in that way. You never know when he will ultimately call it quits, but when he does, it will be when he no longer feels he can contribute to winning in the same way. This is not that time.
